


You're Gonna Miss Me (When I'm Stoned)

by corikane



Category: Pitch Perfect (2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Crack, F/F, M for language, Recreational Drug Use
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-10
Updated: 2013-03-22
Packaged: 2017-11-28 20:02:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 21
Words: 47,080
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/678366
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/corikane/pseuds/corikane
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Beca was late for auditioning and there was a reason for it - the same reason Aubrey had for not having her join the Bellas: Beca enjoyed marihuana a little too much. Not that Chloe is bothered by it, after all, she knew from the start that she and Beca would be fast friends - with benefits?<br/>(No copyright infringement intended.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

The reason why Beca was late to the audition was that some of the High Notes had been standing outside the auditorium sharing a joint - and they had offered to share with her. Beca had promised her mom to quit smoking and she had - for two whole months - but then there had been nobody around to offer. The temptation was too great and the DJ took a lungful, it was good stuff.  
Given, it was a little strange that the High Notes stood outside while everybody else was inside listening to the freshmen audition but Beca figured, maybe they had taken a break or something. She should have known better by the earnestness with which Aubrey Posen had evaluated her when they first met, the way she talked about 'synchronized lady dancing' like it was her calling in life.  
So, when Beca finally entered the auditorium, she felt good, she felt refreshed, everybody was just ready to leave, or confer about their choices or however they did this thing. But there was the cute redhead and she waved Beca forward.  
"There's one more," Beca waved, no doubt grinning stupidly. But that was okay, it was always good to seem friendly.  
So, she started that thing that she had learned on lazy afternoons with some other guys on the school lawn, that song Barry had been so fond of, the one with the cup. Luckily, those Bella-girls had something akin to a cup, it wouldn't have been quite as impressive if she had just slapped her hands on the stage repeatedly. But then there was something magnificent about the sounds her hands made on that cup and Beca started hitting the thing just for the sake of it and she might have forgotten the words to the song but that cup... man, that cup sounded good.  
She did see that tall blonde lean over to the cute redhead and she even heard her whisper:  
"She's stoned, Chlo," and the redhead tried to smile and then looked up at Beca sadly. Beca stopped her clomping on the cup and just looked into those sad blue eyes.  
"I screwed up, did I?" she heard herself ask.  
"No, I mean, the first few seconds were really good. And you do have a lovely voice," Chloe told her while her friend already got up off her seat.  
"Your friend doesn't seem to think so," Beca said and followed Aubrey with her eyes as she made her way through the row of seats, turning when she noticed that Choe hadn't followed her.  
"Chloe, you coming? We need to talk to the girls we've already decided on," she said with a sideglance at Beca.  
"That's not me then," the DJ said.  
"Maybe next time," Chloe tried to be encouraging but her smile was still a little sad - and disappointed. But that was not fair, she didn't have a spliff in two months and that stuff those High Notes handed around had actually been pretty good stuff. And damn, did that cup sound good. Beca hit the yellow thing a couple more times, yeah, still excellent. Could she take it with her? she wondered. And since no one was looking at her she just took the yellow cup and left the auditorium.  
The High Notes still stood outside, they were still smoking and lounging.  
"Hey, did you make it?" One of the girls, she had introduced herself earlier as Nadine, asked her and Beca shook her head. "Then you can join us, we have auditions on the lawn, whenever... try to be on time, though," she giggled and offered Beca another pull of another joint. Beca honestly wanted to decline but she didn't want to be rude, either. So, she took another lungful of the good stuff, forgetting that there were sad - disappointed - blue eyes somewhere that would have liked to see her succeed.

Aca-initiation night.  
If Beca had thought the acas took their ritualistic auditioning for organized derp-performances a little too seriously, she was relieved to find that initiation night was just a party - with nerds. And that was her favorite kind of party because no one made her participate and push her body against some other awkward almost-twen. She stood a little to the side when the Bellas entered - fashionably late. She recognized the blond Tasmanian from their encounter at the DJ-booth and smiled at her.  
"So, you one of the chosen few, too?" the obese young woman asked her.  
"Chosen few? I thought, that were those who got to join the Quidditch teams," Beca gave back.  
"Nah, they just like to think that. So, who you're singing with?"  
"The High Notes, though, I'm not sure there's going to be much singing... maybe some ritualistic chanting around the bong," Beca quipped. She felt sober enough to make fun of her participation in the group, after all, her dad had pretty much pressured her to join any group, really. He didn't need to know that they were all potheads - Beca included.  
"Well, I'm looking forward to partying with you guys - the Bellas seem a little... more conservative, if you get my drift," Amy said.  
"Stuck up bitches?" Beca gave her impression of the tall blonde who was in charge.  
"Nah, not exactly, just... traditionally sobered and sobering." She grinned at Beca while the other Bellas made their way to the bottom of the amphitheater they had all gathered in on this occasion. "I'm Fat Amy, by the way," she told the brunette.  
"Fat Amy? Well, I'm DJ Beca... it's nice to meet you."  
"Same here and see you later DJ Beca. You gonna play some music for us some time?" Amy asked while she was joining her friends where there was alcohol and music and guys.  
"Sure, if I think you're up to my sick mixes," Beca answered.  
"You're on," the Tasmanian called back and pointed both fingers at the brunette. Beca laughed. She noticed someone who lurked at the side of her vision, it was that kid Jesse who worked with her at the radio station. He was waving when she turned to him. He had a drink in hand and his walk was a little uncoordinated.  
"Are you drunk, friend?" she asked him.  
"No, not really, just a little overjoyed," he grinned goofily.  
"Overjoyed, huh?"  
"Yip, this is so cool. We're all gonna sing and hang out together all year," he enthused.  
"Yeah, that's great, so, did you join those Treblemakers, then?"  
"No, they took Benji, though, he was so happy. I'm with the BU Harmonics," he pointed at the group of young men in their polo shirts and pullovers who stood with a group of girls who hung on their every words and arms.  
"That's... great. I hear you sing a lot of Madonna," she said amusedly.  
"Madonna's cool," Jesse nodded.  
"Yeah, she is. She's badass," Beca confirmed.  
"I'm not gay, though," Jesse said earnestly.  
"Who said you were?" The dark-haired young man nodded.  
"Just, I think some of the guys are and, well, I'm not. I got in because I'm a good singer, is all," he clarefied. "Have you had a drink yet? You look like you don't have had a drink yet, I think I'ma gonna get you a drink now, okay? Is that okay?" He babbled.  
"Sure, that would be nice. You go get me a drink," Beca agreed.  
"Good, I'ma gonna get you a drink. Something good," and he scrambled off, or rather he jumped jauntily down the stairs. He was such a weirdo, but kinda cute and nice - in a gay kinda way.  
"Hey," Beca felt her hands be taken by someone she hadn't seen yet, though her eyes had scanned the crowd for the redhead. "You're here." She said and pulled Beca very close, maybe a little too close for someone who hardly knew you. But like Jesse she seemed rather inebriated and Beca really didn't mind the closeness.  
"Yeah, I'm being officially initiated into the a cappella-world of Barden University," Beca offered mock enthusiastic.  
"You're with the High Notes, then? Or the Harmonics?"  
"High Notes, the Harmonics already had their fill of... high notes," she quipped.  
"Yeah, I'm sometimes acutally a little jealous of boy sopranos. I don't know how they do it," Chloe smiled brightly.  
"Yeah... I mean, whatever," Beca smiled back stupidly. The other woman's blue eyes just knocked the wind out of her, they were magnificent, brightened by the alcohol but also by her obvious joy on this occasion.  
Chloe giggled.  
"I think we're gonna be friends, right? I mean, you'll be around, right? Right?"  
"Yeah, I think I'll definitely be around," Beca agreed.  
"Good. I think I would like to sing with you one of these days... again," Chloe said with a wink.  
They were still so close to each other, Beca could feel Chloe's breath on her face, there was a whisper of alcohol on it but it wasn't unpleasant. A gust of wind sent Beca's hair into Chloe's face and they giggled as Beca tried to tame it.  
"We're going to be really good friends," Chloe whispered again and then she gave the brunette a peck on the lips before she let go of her.  
"So, now, this ginger needs her giggle juice. You want some, too?" She asked as an afterthought.  
"No; I'll be good. Jesse's getting me some," Beca answered. Chloe wiggled her behind at her and then slapped it. "Nice moves," the DJ congratulated, smirking at the sight.  
"Join me on the dance floor and you can get some up, close, and personal," Chloe flirted. Beca blushed just a little but then laughed.  
"I'll keep that in mind," she said and watched Chloe leave. "Dayam, girl, you fine," she muttered under her breath as Jesse joined her with her drink. He gave it to her.  
"Is good stuff," he said and took another deep swallow of his own.  
"Good, I think I need it," the DJ said. She took a sip and had to caugh. "Damn, what's in here?" She asked.  
"A little bit of everything, that big guy said," he pointed at Justin, one of the organizers of a cappella at Barden.  
"That's helpful information," Beca said and took another sip. The drink began to grow on her as did the party.


	2. Chapter 2

Later she found herself actually dancing and enjoying it. She didn't even know the guy's name but that wasn't important because the redhead - she finally got her name, it was Chloe - was dancing right behind her, and they touched and - if Beca was any judge in her slightly drunken state - not by accident. What irked her a little was that guy in the gray sweater that was all over Chloe's... everything. Boyfriend? But why was she flirting with Beca if she had a boyfriend - or was she? Yes, she was, she definitely was, Beca thought when Chloe turned toward her and pressed her body into her, taking her hands into her own. Man, that felt... delicious.  
"Never saw it comin', all of your backstabbin'...," she sang with Christina Aguilera into Beca's ear. She put her arms around the DJ's middle, moving her pelvis in a seductive fashion and Beca grinned up into the sky. Damn, college life wasn't that bad, not bad at all. She felt high but for a change it was not on any semi-illegal substance (if you didn't count the alcohol, that was) just on... touch. And Chloe was very touchy.  
The song ended but the touching didn't right away, Chloe hugged her close and laughed into her ear.  
"You got nice moves yourself, Beca," she whispered into her ear. Then she let go of her and when Beca turned she saw Chloe hug that guy in the gray sweater. Damn, was she just a tease, was she even real?  
Beca took a deep breath, she felt elated, at the same time slightly down - why did the guys always get the cute girls in the end? Would she always be a time-filler and never the happily-ever-after? Not that she necessarily believed in that romantic notion but sometimes it would be nice to hold someone, be held by someone for longer than a song.  
She saw Nadine and that tall dread-locked guy - Darnell? - over by the stairs, lighting up. She went over, contemplating that she would have to ask them about some contact, so that she could score some for herself. She hadn't even worried about that until now but she couldn't always just smoke theirs, it wasn't fair. Give AND take, there had to be a balance. But for now, she was happy enough to be invited to take a pull from Nadine's spliff, dance close to her, give her a little tongue and thinking that it would have been sweeter with that sexy redhead, Chloe.

The next morning was hung-over and she was happy that her dad didn't barge into her room again because she was missing a class. He seemed to be content for now that she had texted him that she had joined an a cappella group - she had deliberately left out the name of same group, he would find out soon enough and give her hell for it, she knew. Her roommate wasn't as inobstrusive as her dad, though, she glared at Beca from her place at her desk. Why did she do that? Just because it was almost noon and she was still lying in bed? Because she smelled a little of alcohol and weed, or because her clothes that lay infront of her bed practically reeked of both?  
Kimmy Jin sure was a kill-joy. Beca turned toward the wall to not have to see the accusing look. That was the moment her phone buzzed above her head and she grabbd it from the shelf. She didn't know the number on the display but when she opened the text, she had to grin:  
So, how do u like aca-parties? I had a great time. U free for lunch? Class? I'm at the commons now, having some anti-hangover and scones. Join me? Chloe  
So what if she was a tease? She was perfectly good at it. Beca grinned and jumped out of bed. She texted back while pulling some fresh clothes out of her closet.  
Give me ten and I join u - party was rad, btw. I could have danced to Xtina all night. Beca  
She pretty much jumped into her clothes and pushed her toothbrush into her mouth while she was running toward the bathrooms. There was a tiny voice at the back of her head telling her that it was okay, she didn't need to get all excited about meeting someone for scones - but she was. Chloe was... she wasn't just cute, or just sexy, she was... just her type. And she was happy that the redhead had decided that she wanted to spend more time with her - with her! That's why she ignored Kimmy Jin's pointed look at her pile of discarded clothes and flew out the door, shoes unlaced, and jogged over to the commons. That's why she felt a familiar yet altogether too enthusiastic tug in the pit of her stomach when she saw Chloe across the lawn, sitting on the grass, leaning back on her hands, enjoying the sun, nodding her head to the music from her ipod.  
Damn, how could someone look that hot after a nght of partying? Beca grinned and restrained herself from resuming her jog, instead she sauntered over like she didn't have a care in the world. She didn't have to bother, Chloe had her eyes closed and only opened them when she felt a shadow fall over her. She shielded her eyes from the sun that stood exactly behind Beca and looked up at her.  
"There you are," she said smiling. Beca grinned and sat down on the grass while Chloe handed her one of her ear-phones. "Here." Beca took it and had to laugh when Titanium blared into her ear.  
"I thought a lady jam was something to listen to in the privacy of your own room, not in the middle of campus," she said and Chloe joined in her laughter.  
"There's never a wrong place for a lady jam, that's how I see it. I'm not so wound up that I can't enjoy it," Chloe informed her which probably meant that she had her cravings well satisfied. Too bad, really, for Beca, not for Chloe. "Here, have some of this. It'll help with the hangover," the redhead handed her a cup of some red concoction.  
"What's in here?" Beca asked suspiciously.  
"I don't even know, it's Aubrey's recipe. But it works, promise," she told Beca and the DJ took a sip. It tasted disgusting, actually, but Beca still drank the whole thing down, she didn't want to seem like a whimp. She couldn't help but shake herself when she finished it, though, and Chloe grinned at her.  
"I know, it's disgusting but you'll feel utterly painless in a minute and the nausea will go with everything else. Just wait," the redhead assured her. "Lie down, we save the scones for later," she pushed the brunette down to a lying position and lay down beside her, very close.  
It was strange, Beca mused, how Chloe didn't seem to have any physical bounderies - for heaven's sake, she had stepped into her shower buck naked - while she herself... yeah, she liked physical contact, most people did, but that was usually only with people she was intimate with and only when she was intimate with them. She didn't need hand-holding, or hugging. She would greet her friends with waves or a fist-bump. Touching was for... chipper girls, people who liked people, not for misanthropists like her. But just now, as they were lying next to each other, listening to more of Chloe's choice playlist, the redhead's hand was holding hers and Beca didn't feel the need to pull away. It was really strange.

"Hey, sleepyhead, wake up... damn, you make the cutest of noises when you sleep, you know that?" Chloe leaned over her, grinning down at her. For a moment Beca felt disoriented but then she took in her surroundings.  
"I fell asleep?" she asked and Chloe giggled.  
"Yeah, snoring and all," she teased.  
"I don't snore," Beca argued and sat up. She must have been out for awhile, the lunch crowd had vanished, the sun stood quite a bit lower in the sky.  
"You so do but it's cute," the redhead said. "You're really very cute, y'know." And Chloe looked her straight in the eyes, conveying just how much she appreciated Beca's cuteness. And then she leaned in, not breaking eye-contact but placing a kiss on Beca's lips. It wasn't just a peck like the other night, it was a real kiss though too short for Beca to answer. There was also something the DJ wanted to clear up before she got entangled in anything.  
"Last night, that boy in the gray sweater. Is he your boyfriend?" she asked as Chloe pulled back from the kiss.  
"Marc? No, he's not my boyfriend. If I had to categorize our relationship which I hate doing - I'm not a labeler - then I would say, we're friends with benefits," she told Beca honestly. "Is that a problem?"  
"So, is that what you want me to be also?" Beca asked.  
"I would like that very much," Chloe smiled. She still hadn't given up her position inside Beca's private space, leaning forward on her elbows though they were hardly touching. "If that's a problem, of course, you have to tell me. I don't do relationships very well and... well, I think you're very hot and I would like to get very close to you - every once in awhile..." Chloe's hand went to Beca's thigh, carressing it before she once again leaned in for a kiss. This time she lingered and Beca found herself responding to it willingly. It didn't take their tongues long to join the fun but Chloe kept it light with only a few flicks and licks.   
God, that girl had her number, Beca's mind moaned.  
"So..." Chloe mused after she pulled away - not too far, her presence still lingered close enough for Beca to be absolutely intoxicated by everything Chloe.  
"I'd like that, too, but... erm... I mean, you do use protection with that... Marc-fellow?"  
"I'm very clean, Beca. I use protection, I shower every day, I go to check-ups with my lady-doctor. I'm so clean you could eat off me, actually," she teased with a wink.  
"I'll keep that in mind for later," Beca flirted back.  
"You know that we can still be friends if... I don't know, if you're not comfortable with sometime-sexy-times or... if you'd rather have someone permanent like the cute blonde from last night..."  
"You saw me with Nadine?" Beca only now remembered that she had made out with her fellow-High Note.  
"Yeah, I saw you with Nadine. And I think she likes you, maybe?"   
"I don't know, I mean... we were high... I mean, I'm not exactly into relationships, either, so... I would really like for you and I... to get closer," and this time it was Beca who leaned in and nibbled on Chloe's sweet lips. Chloe giggled.  
"You should tell Nadine, though," she admonished.  
"I will, no worries. Though... I mean, we would still be good if I saw her, too, right?" Beca didn't plan on seeing Nadine, she just knew that sometimes things happened when you were high. She didn't mean to use the other girl, she wasn't even sure if Nadine really liked her or if it was just something she did when she was stoned... maybe she was straight, Beca didn't know.  
"Sure but then I would like to know that you're 'clean,' too. I have no interest in other people's yeast infection," she smiled but was serious about it. Beca nodded. "Good, now that we've cleared that up, I have to leave. I have class in 10 minutes. Sorry," she added when she saw Beca's pout. She leaned in for a short kiss and sat up on her knees. She put her things back into her backpack but pulled out a small brown bag. "Here, eat those." She told Beca, it were the scones she had promised her for lunch.  
"Thanks," the brunette said.  
"Are you going back to your dorm?"  
"No, I think I'll stay a little. It's still nice out," Beca answered and leaned back onto her elbows.  
"It is. Hey, here, take my ipod. You don't have any music on you, do you?" Beca shook her head. "I'll have to have it back until tonight, though. I can't sleep without it. I'll be in the library after this class. I have a study group and afterwards I'll be at Bellas practice. We'll probably be done around 11, so... I'll see you later?"  
"I'll make sure you get it back," Beca promised as she put the little buds into her ears. Chloe leaned forward and put her hand on Beca's stomach, she rubbed over it in a familiar, intimate way that made Beca's breath hitch.  
"Mhm," Chloe waggled her eyebrows. Then she placed a last kiss on Beca's lips and left her to her music and musings.


	3. Chapter 3

The next thing Beca consciously realized was a tap on her knee and when she opened her eyes she looked up at Jesse.  
"Hey," he greeted while he was already busy spreading a blanket out on the lawn beside her and sitting down on it. "So, I thought, we're working together and maybe we could do something else besides stacking cds?" He pulled out his laptop and then a couple of dvds. Beca took the earbuds of Chloe's ipod out of her ears and looked at the stack of films suspiciously. Jesse pulled two juice pouches out of his backpack and handed her one, this made Beca smile again. It felt like kids meeting on a playdate and drinking these things - or trying to drink them because as a kid she hadn't been able to put the straw in without getting the beverage all over her, and she had tried many times.  
"You wanna watch a movie?" she asked as she prepared her fruity drink.  
"Yeah, I mean... that's what people do, right? They watch movies together," he smiled and she shook her head slightly. "No? People don't watch movies together?"  
"People maybe but... don't you ever like to do things that people don't usually do?" She asked him.  
"Yes, of course, I mean... no, not really. What do you mean?" She smiled at Jesse who seemed confused.  
"I don't know. Just let your hair down," she actually leaned over at her words and ruffled through his carefully arranged short hair. "or... sit on the grass without a blanket, or... here..." she turned her juice pouch on him and pressed down on it. She hit him right in the face, some of the juice dripping from his chin onto his shirt.  
"What did you do that for?" he breathed through the beverage as Beca couldn't help but giggle.  
"I'm sorry, I thought you would open your mouth," she said and slipped out of the shirt she wore over her tank top. She handed it to him to dry his face and he did. "I'm so sorry," but she kept on laughing and he started to smirk at her amusement.  
"You're a strange girl, Beca Mitchell," he said.  
"You got that right, Jesse Swanson," she grinned.  
"You really don't wanna watch a movie, then?" he asked and she once again shook her head. "Don't you like movies? I mean, everybody likes movies, right?" And again, she shook her head. "You don't like movies!" He actually seemed shocked at the revelation.  
"Not really, they're too predictable for my taste. Especially those neurotically 'romantic' comedies... you already know how it ends because they all end the same: the boy gets the girl, cue climactic music, fade to credits," she summarized what annoyed her most about the movie industry, although it was by no means the only thing that she hated about it.  
"But the music is key, Beca. Music makes movies, it's glorious, it heightens emotions, brings it all together. Music is key," he repeated. "That's actually what I want to do: I wanna score movies," he revealed what he had always dreamed of doing.  
"So, you mainly sit through movies just to hear the music? Just buy the soundtrack," Beca told him and he rolled his eyes at her.  
"You don't like any movies at all?" He asked just to make sure that he hadn't misunderstood her.  
"I'm getting bored easy - though I watched one with a friend once... it was kinda interesting," she mused.  
"What's it called?"  
"You probably don't know it," Beca said evasively.  
"Try me," he challenged.  
"Sugar High Glitter City," she answered, barely able to contain her laughter.  
"You made that up," he accused.  
"No, I didn't. It's... a lesbian porn, actually." That's when she actually burst out laughing at the face he made. He stared at her open-mouthed, open-eyes, completely perplex.  
"You're...," he didn't finish but she nodded.  
"Yeah, I'm a dyke," she told him.  
"Wow, I'm... such an idiot. Man, when I said that I wasn't gay... I mean, I didn't mean to say that it was wrong, or anything. You got that, right?"  
"Sure, I got it. Don't sweat it, dude," she said.  
"Damn... I thought... why am I always hitting on lesbians?" He asked her quite seriously and she had to laugh again.  
"I don't know, man, but it's cool. No hard feelings," she assured him. He sighed.  
"Okay, so no movie-watching with Beca - unless you wanna get into that lesbian porn-thing again?"  
"Not with you, sorry," she told him and he nodded, having expected the answer.  
"Cool," he said and packed the dvds back into his backpack. "What were you listening to then?" He asked pointing at the ipod lying next to Beca in the grass.  
"Erm, I'm not sure myself. It's Chloe's and she's got quite an interesting taste in music," Beca picked up the device and turned it thoughtfully between her finger.  
"Chloe is..."  
"The redhead from the Bellas, you know, she's..."  
"Cute," he said instantly.  
"That's her," Beca confirmed and grinned.  
"She's got a boyfriend, though, doesn't she?"  
"So?" Beca gave back. She looked at Jesse challengingly and he shrugged his shoulders.  
"Okay," he mumbled and busied himself with his laptop. He put it back in his backpack.  
It was then that Beca saw some people coming towards them, they were High Notes. They plopped down on the grass and Jesse's blanket and just engaged the other two into their conversation. Beca could see that Jesse wasn't at all comfortable with all these people crowding around them but he tried to be nice. When Louis pulled out a joint, though, the Harmonic got nervous. He looked around them to see if there was security or any kind of authority around.  
"I think I better...," he started.  
"Dude, relax," she told him. "It's okay."  
"I don't wanna get into trouble. Erm, see you at the station tomorrow?" He got up and looked at the blanket like it was a lost cause now that it was inhabited by Beca's friends.  
"Sure and," she caught his eyes. "I'm gonna get this back to you, okay?" She patted the blanket and he smiled.  
"Bye, guys," he said to everyone and some of the High Notes waved or mumbled something. Jesse left and Beca looked after him. This wasn't exactly new behavior, some people weren't at all comfortable with 'drugs' but she was a little disappointed. Jesse was on the conservative side but was it really such a big deal. It was a joint, they weren't rolling up dollar bills and shooting coke up their noses. Beca shook her head impatiently, having no time for this kind of hypochrisy. And really, how was this any different than drinking - and she had seen Jesse do that.

The rest of the afternoon, Beca and her a cappella-friends spent lounging on the quad and smoking, and talking, and laughing, and they even sang a little. Nadine picked up Chloe's ipod at some point and listened to it, she snickered at some of the songs.  
"Is this yours? I wouldn't have thought you like pink," and Beca wasn't sure if she talked about the color of the device or the music she was listening to.  
"It's not mine, it's a friend's," she gave back.  
"A lady friend's or does it belong to that guy who just left. He's gay, right?" Beca shook her head.  
"Not his and he says he's not gay, so...," the DJ took the ipod from Nadine.  
"So, who is she?" the blonde asked honestly through Beca's evasiveness. She looked up at the brunette with beseeching blue eyes that couldn't compete with Chloe's brilliance. Beca wondered if that was because Chloe's eyes were just exceptional or because Nadine's were dulled by her habit.  
"Chloe from the Bellas," she said and pushed the ipod into her jeans pocket. She picked up her shirt which still lay on Jesse's blanket, it was a little sticky from the juice but Beca put it on anyway because it was getting a little cold.  
"Ahhhh," Nadine said. "So, you guys are like... into each other?" She kept on going in her line of questioning.  
"I guess," Beca said. "Yeah, we are." Nadine nodded and smiled a little self-deprecatingly. Darnell handed her the joint and she took a deep pull, letting the smoke linger inside before breathing it out through her nose.   
"Hmmmmmm," she made and handed Beca the smoke. The DJ took it, thought for a second and decided that it really didn't matter. She mirrored Nadine's action and gave the joint to the next person.  
Beca stayed with the Notes for another hour then she got up, asking Nadine to secure the blanket when they left. Nadine nodded and pulled Beca in for a small kiss before she left the group. They really were kind of a queer assemblage. There were ten of them right now but Beca was pretty sure that there were others who were linked to the group - whether they were all acas, she didn't know. It was just possible that some of these guys didn't even know there was something like a cappella singing on campus and just liked to hang out and smoke weed. But who was she to judge?   
The thing was that... Beca would have really liked to make some music right about now. Sure, making mixes on her computer was great, it was the best, she loved it. But she also would have liked to hang out with some cool people - or just girls - and sing with them, make music with their mouths, as Chloe had said. Beca had to laugh, now how about that inuendo?  
The brunette shook her head as she entered the library where Chloe had said she would be. She searched for the redhead in the study areas and there were quite a few, some with computers, some where you could stack your books and do research, some where you could take a nap. She finally spotted a mop of red hair but she wasn't alone and she wasn't strictly speaking studying either. Chloe sat on one of the couches with that guy from the party - Marc. They were goofing around, necking until Chloe pushed the guy away from her.  
"We have to get back to this, I still have three more pages on this essay... here," she gave him a book and he took it together with a stolen kiss. Beca breathed deeply on seeing it. She had Chloe's ipod in her hands and should have just gone over and given it to the redhead. But she didn't want to... intrude on something that looked like so much more than 'friends with benefits.'  
She turned around and left the library, heading for her dorm.


	4. Chapter 4

They sat across from each other at Mick's Burger Palace which accidentily looked more like Mick's Burger Shack. They shared some fries and Beca had a burger with them, and although Chloe had wondered aloud what the main content of the meat might be - cat or dog - she enjoyed every bite.  
"You know you didn't have to bring me my ipod, I could have survived one night without it," Chloe said. Beca shrugged.  
"I was just too lazy bringing it to the library earlier, so...," she knew she was fishing for some kind of explanation why Chloe said that she and Marc weren't a couple when they behaved like one. "You had a study group?"  
"Well, more like a study date. Marc and I have kind of a routine that we meet and study together because he's a junior and has the same classes I have taken," Chloe explained.  
"So, mainly you're helping him through?" Beca asked but Chloe shook her head.  
"No, he's very bright, he doesn't really need my help. It's just... a routine. Friends studying together." Beca nodded though it hadn't looked like that to her."You're not down with Marc and I, are you? If that's jealousy I detect then cut it, I don't need that crap. That's why I'm not in a relationship," Chloe told her earnestly.  
"No, it's... I don't know. You two seem very... together together," Beca said. She wasn't looking at Chloe.  
"We've known each other for two year, we're intimate. How would you have us behave, like strangers?" Beca took a deep breath, she didn't know why she was making such a big deal out of it. Chloe had explained it to her and she had understood - or pretended to understand. "Did you have a girlfriend in high school, Beca?" Chloe asked after awhile since it didn't look like the freshman was going to answer any time soon. The brunette looked up.  
"Not... not exactly. I mean... on and off-things. On when they were drunk, off when they were sober," she answered.  
"That sucks," Chloe commented.  
"Yeah, it did."  
"Have you had sex with someone?"  
"I'm not a virgin, Chlo... I know how it all works," Beca rolled her eyes. "Geez."  
"I didn't mean to offend you with the question, Beca. It wouldn't have mattered to me either way, I just want to get to know you," Chloe explained and Beca blushed.  
"Well, I guess you can tell now that I'm not good with people. I'm also a real brunette and scorpio," the freshman grinned sheepishly. Chloe laughed.  
"I'm cancer and sometimes I forget that people have personal boundaries and don't like people to walk into their showers." They laughed together and resumed their eating.  
"I had sex with the prom queen on prom night," Beca told Chloe and the redhead smiled.  
"Was it good?" she asked.  
"Hell, no. She was dead drunk but had enough smarts to call me at home when her boyfriend tried to take what she didn't want to give up willingly. Well, in the end she gave it up quite willingly to me... on the backseat of my mom's car. It was awkward," she ended the story. "I don't even know why I'm telling you this."  
"Because I asked," Chloe said and smiled. She leaned over and carressed Beca's cheek, then she whispered in her ear: "Thank you," and gave her a small kiss on the lips. Beca smiled, looking up at the redhead until there was a not very pleased voice clearing their throat. It was Mick himself, a slim guy with a scrunchy face who had come to know Beca by her first name.  
"You girls about done here?" he asked and took their half-eaten plates from the table. He turned back to his place behind the counter.  
"Excuse me?" Beca said.  
"I do but just because I'm in a good mood tonight," Mick said over his shoulder. "And now, if you please, I don't want the likes of you in here."  
"The likes of..." Beca was stunned. Was this actually happening? "I paid for the food, y'know."  
"I don't recall you paying me enough to look at you snogging your girlfriend, little dyke, so..."  
"Beca, let's go," Chloe pulled at Beca's sleeve as she stood up from her seat.  
"That's right, Beca, listen to your girlfriend," Mick mocked her.  
"You dirty little bastard," Beca groused and kicked at some chairs. Two fell over and Mick moved from behind his counter to get to Beca but Chloe was pulling her out the door. They ran down the street to the next busstop.  
"That fucking asshole... damn, I wish I had... something... to throw at his fucking joint - eggs or tomatoes or... a burning match. That fucking bastard!" Beca fumed. She walked up and down infront of the bench Chloe had sat down on. The redhead was watching her for awhile, not looking too happy about what happened herself.  
"Hey, cool down, tiger. It's not worth it," Chloe finally said.  
"The hell it isn't. How can people like that still exist? Damn, we didn't even... like snog or what he said. You just..."  
"And I shouldn't have," the redhead interjected another outburst.  
"Why the hell not?"  
"Because this is the bible belt and people are sensitive. I sometimes forget that," she said.  
"Fuck those people. We have every right to kiss or make out or whatever. We're people, too," Beca declared.  
"Yes, we are. But that won't change Mick's mind or any of the minds of bigots and zealots and hypocrites - or normal people who just want everybody to be just as normal as they are," Chloe reasoned. "You're taking the bus, too?" She asked and pointed at the vehicle coming down the street.  
"I spent my last money on the burger," Beca groused.  
"The ride is on me then, come on," Chloe once again pulled at her sleeve but Beca shook her head.  
"This isn't even my line," she said.  
"I'll not have you walk home, Becs, so come on," the redhead practically dragged her onto the bus when it finally stopped infront of them. "You're coming back to my place, you can sleep on the couch," she told the brunette and grinned at her.  
"Aubrey will be delighted," Beca mumbled but smirked. There had to be an upside to all this and maybe it was Aubrey Posen's face when she found Beca on the couch in her living room at whatever hour the blonde got up.

Chloe and Beca shuffled into the apartment the redhead shared with Aubrey. Chloe stood for a moment, listening.  
"I guess she's already asleep," she whispered to the brunette who simply nodded. They walked down the corridor to the living room.  
"Looks cozy," Beca murmured when she saw the couch. "You have a blanket, or something?" She asked Chloe while simultaneously slipping out of her sneakers.  
"You know you don't have to sleep on the couch, I have a queen size," Chloe informed her and pulled her after her by her hand. They went down another corridor and Chloe opened the door at the end of it to her room.  
Beca was surprised that Chloe had offered to share her bed. Sure, they had established that they were into each other but it was late and Chloe seemed a little tired after their... fray with Mick, the things that had been said. But maybe not too tired?  
Beca decided to test that out and pulled the redhead to her after she'd closed the door behind her. She kissed her, lingeringly, her hand slipping under Chloe's top, carressing the warm skin she found. Chloe answered the kiss but pulled away when she felt Beca opening her bra.  
"Now, aren't you an eager beaver?" She laughed lightly. "I have an early morning, so there won't be any sexy times tonight. Sorry," she added but winked.  
"I can't even read your signs, girl. You totally confuse me," Beca said and took a step out of Chloe's personal space.  
"Hey, come here," Chloe pulled Beca back in. She carressed her cheek like she had done earlier that night. "I'm a rather touchy-feely kind of person, y'know. I crave human contact, I can never get enough of that. So, feel free to touch and kiss but don't get yourself all worked up because..."  
"No sexy times, got it," Beca nodded and so did Chloe. They smiled at each other and Chloe leaned in for another lingering kiss. When they parted, Chloe walked over to her closet and pulled out a t-shirt.  
"Here, you can sleep in this," she threw the garment at the younger woman and Beca caught it. The shirt had 'Hello, Kitty' on the front.  
"Don't you have something... maybe with the Bat-sign, or something?" the DJ asked and flinched at the wholesome kitten's face on the t-shirt. Chloe just laughed and pulled her top over her head. She really had no inhibitions as she undressed infront of the brunette, even if she stood with her back to her.  
A small moan escaped Beca and she could hear Chloe's laughter again.  
"Well, I'm glad you enjoy the view but get that shirt on, I'm really tired. And if you have to use the bathroom, it's the door on the right, the door further down the hall on the left is Aubrey's. You don't wann go in there, I think 'Brey sleeps with one of her dad's hunting knives under the pillow."  
They put on their respective sleeping shirts, Chloe slipped on some boxers and then turned to see Beca in her own boxers which were black and the pink 'Hello, Kitty' t-shirt. She couldn't help but laugh.  
"Yeah, thanks," Beca commented. Chloe went over to her and stroked her stomach through the shirt.  
"You look cute. I like those boxers," she said and as to prove it, her hand went down to Beca's thigh to the hem of her undies. Her fingers followed the line to the back of Beca's thigh and the brunette's breathing hitched when Chloe's hand grabbed her behind. "Cute ass, too," she said and smiled seductively.  
"Woman, you're a tease," Beca informed her. "And now I have to use the bathroom."

They both did and then lay down in Chloe's queen size bed. And although there was really plenty of space, Chloe pulled the freshman into the middle of the bed where they faced each other.  
"You really are touchy-feely," Beca said when Chloe's arms and legs entangled with her own.  
"I'm not lying about serious stuff like that," Chloe answered and then pulled Beca in for a kiss. The redhead tasted of toothpaste, of warmth and wetness, of sweetness, too. Beca got lost in the heated exchange, her hands carressing and messaging all the warm skin they could reach until her left hand tried to reach for a goal that lay too high on Chloe's chest for the redhead to succumb.  
"Ah, ah," she stopped Beca's hand on its journey, "now you're trying to get us both worked up," she admonished.  
"Tell me you're not already," Beca pushed her weight against the taller woman and rolled on top of her, effectively slipping her thigh between the redhead's. They both moaned at the intense contact and just for a moment, Chloe grabbed Beca's ass and pulled the brunette into her. But then her hand went around to the front and pushed Beca's hip bone away from her so that both women regained their earlier positions.  
"Such a tease," Beca murmured.  
"Better a tease than a push-over," Chloe gave back and they both giggled. They ceased their kissing and just lay for awhile.  
"We should really get some sleep," Chloe said. "Roll over," she then told the brunette.  
"Excuse me?"  
"Roll over, I'm going to spoon you. I like to be the big spoon for a change," she told Beca.  
"And what if I wanna be the big spoon?"  
"Tough luck, shorty," Chloe answered and pushed Beca onto her back.  
"And now what?" Beca grinned up at Chloe and the redhead smiled.  
"You're just gonna end up horny and frustrated, Becs. You don't really wanna go there," she wanred.  
"Let's say I'm already there but it's too much fun to stop," Beca pulled Chloe closer and the redhead came to lie on top of her. Again, the contact of their bodies was intense and delicious and this time it was Beca's hand who grabbed Chloe's behind. "This is the best," she moaned. Chloe nibbled at her chin.  
"No, this is the end," she said and rolled off Beca a second later. The freshman growled in protest. "It's all your doing. Now roll over, so we can get some sleep. I have to get up in... about five hours," Chloe informed Beca and the brunette finally complied. She faced away from Chloe and the taller woman spooned her, pulling her very close and resting her hand just under Beca's breasts.  
"Mhm, now this is nice," the brunette murmured.  
"Told you so. Now sleep," Chloe commanded and then kissed Beca on her ear. The freshman's right hand went up to Chloe's and linked their fingers.  
"Yes, m'am," was the last thing she said before they both succumbed to exhaustion.


	5. Chapter 5

Chloe's alarm woke them both at 6.30 a.m. The redhead turned to beat at the offending device and then turned back to Beca. She pulled her tight; the brunette practically purred into the intimate embrace.  
"I could wake up like this every morning," she murmured but then realized what she's said. She looked up at Chloe self-consciously but the other woman just smiled and shifted so they could look at each other better. Only, she didn't really mean to look at Beca as she dove in for a good morning kiss. And quite a kiss it was, too. Beca felt herself coming awake and alive under the soft ministrations of Chloe's lips and tongue. Two pair of hands started their own explorations and soon both women moaned at the jolts of arousal hitting hard.  
Then the alarm chimed again and Chloe disentangled herself from Beca rather non-chalantly to turn it off.  
"Gotta get up. I have an early class," she pecked the younger woman on the cheek and climbed out of bed.  
"Aw, what? Seriously, woman?" Beca protested and Chloe laughed. "You really are just a tease, aren't you?"  
Chloe jumped back onto the bed and it struck Beca that the redhead must be a morning person - and she wasn't sure if that was a good thing should they wake up together more often.  
"No, not just. But teasing is fun, it keeps your heartrate up..." Chloe cupped Beca's cheek with her hand, then the same hand slid over her jaw down her neck over her cleavage, squeezing a breast (Beca moaned at the contact), gliding over her stomach but stopping at the navel, grinning mischievously. "... and keeps you coming back for more." Chloe finished and then gave Beca a short but heartfelt kiss on the lips.  
"Do I have time to take a cold shower?" the freshman asked.  
"Doubt it. Aubrey should be up soon, too. Sorry," she said as she was about to leave the bedroom.  
"I could always shower with you," Beca suggested and the redhead turned back grinning.  
"We'll do that some other morning when we got more time - and 'Brey isn't around. Promise," which didn't help Beca with her state of arousal at all. She groaned under her breath as Chloe left for the bathroom.  
"What have I gotten myself into?" Beca wondered aloud but she knew what it was. It was a sexy redhead with the cutest smile, the brightest blue eyes and a wicked sense of humor. She was all that and then some and Beca loved every second she was able to spend with her. And she knew that she shouldn't get herself in too deep but that was what Beca did, every single time in fact. She fell for Beth, the prom queen, back when they were high school sophomore's and would never tell her no when they were both slightly tipsy and in the mood for some experimentation. She also fell for Deanne, the senior shift manager at the burger joint she had worked last summer, and her complicated rule of not dating co-workers but screwing them after the night shift. And now Chloe who was bad at dating but so good... at everything else. And the worst part was probably that she didn't try to use Beca like the others had done. She was upfront, she was a good person, and she just wanted to have a good time. And Beca would give her that - and she would get her heart broken in the process. 'Cause that was what Beca Mitchell did - every fucking time.

There was a park not far away from campus and walking by it on her way from Chloe and Aubrey's apartment, Beca decided to enter. There were flowers, there were walks for people and their dogs, there were some trees. Beca decided on one of them - one that looked easy to climb - to sit down and enjoy a joint. She found a good perch not to high up but still high enough that people not looking up wouldn't see her and rolled herself a smoke.  
She thought of this morning, she thought of how she had run into Aubrey - actually, they hadn't run into each other, Aubrey had knocked on the bathroom door assuming it was Chloe inside and that the redhead was running late, making her late in turn. She had come out of the bathroom after having brushed her teeth and smirked at the tall blonde. She probably shouldn't have done it but Aubrey had such a superior air all the time that it felt good to see a rather shocked expression on her face. It was decided, Aubrey hated her and it amused the brunette. She wasn't sure how Chloe would feel about this, though, or how great Aubrey's influence on her friend was. Maybe she should not get into the blonde's business - or not much.  
Beca took a deep drag from her reefer. She felt herself relaxing instantly, though she knew it couldn't be the marihuana effecting her so fast. It just felt good to be outside, in the sun, thinking about a certain redhead, and having a smoke without anyone minding. This was life for Beca. The kind of life she would have liked to have when she was still in high school. But in high school everything had been so fucked up most of the time that she had used the drug as an escape. Not anymore.  
Sure, she could be a better student and her father would be on her case for not being like he wanted her to be but... her dad hadn't that much of a say in her life. He was the guy who had sent Christmas and birthday cards for the last eight years, not bothering to visit and instead building a new family with Sheila and Travis who was not her brother and she would rather go to hell than calling him that - he was Sheila's son from her first marriage, not related, no, not at all.  
Beca redirected her thoughts away from his dad and his substitute family toward Chloe. Yeah, that was definitely better, more enjoyable, relaxing. She pondered the way they had connected so easily and so entirely, the excitement that built when she was with the redhead - how Chloe would excite her. She knew what to do and when to do it. And Chloe had certainly been right, teasing was fun.  
Beca laughed, leaning her head back against the trunk of the tree. She enjoyed the sun on her face but the warmth running through her body was mostly from last night's and this mornings activities - and it wasn't that they hadn't done so much, just enough. Or maybe not enough, Beca contemplated as she felt the weight of some renewed arousal in her lower body. Damn, she was horny but what were her options beside a cold shower? There was certainly one option she would enjoy better. Beca grinned and looked at her watch. Friday, not yet eight - Kimmy Jin would have left for her first class by now and would probably not be back until... later.  
Beca finished her smoke and jumped off the tree to the barking of one frightened small pomeranian. Beca smiled at the owner in apology and made her way to her dorm.

She hadn't quite reached it, though, when she bumpred shoulders with someone who got too much in her way. As by instinct she mumbled an apology although her inner voice told her that it had been his fault when that same person grabbed her arm, not hard but it still surprised Beca.  
"Beca," it was her father's voice. Great, just what she needed. Luckily for her he stood directly infront of the sun from her position and she had to shield her eyes when she looked up at him, effectively shielding her dilated pupils from his view.  
"Dad, hey, didn't see you there," she said.  
"Yeah, I could tell. Are you actually on your way to class?" he asked suprised but pleasantly so until she shook her head.  
"No, I'm on my way home," she told him without really registering that it might not be the kind of information she wanted to share with her dad. But her thoughts were mellow, her attitude one of 'I'd really rather not talk to you right now.'  
"Home? At this hoour... you were out? All night?"  
"Yeah, dad, I was out all night?" Beca grinned at his perplexity and shook her head slightly.  
"I didn't know you had a boyfriend," he tried to gloss over the parental instinct of being shocked that his daugher, his only child was probably having sex with some good-for-nothing first year in his room - all night. Beca laughed lightly at his words and shook her head. He didn't know her at all.  
"Not that it's any of your business but I don't have a boyfriend. I'm not having unprotected sex and I won't get pregnant by someone I shouldn't marry. I'm not my mom," she told him and could see him color.  
"Beca, I really don't appreciate your tone," he said in a strained voice.  
"Well, I didn't appreciate you leaving us to get a new wife and a son but that didn't stop you now, did it?"  
"Could you drop the sarcasm, Beca? It's very unbecoming for someone your age," Ken Mitchell told his daughter. He was angry and he was hurt. It wasn't his fault alone that his marriage to Beca's mom hadn't worked out but, of course, she only blamed him for it. It was understandable, she had to live with her mother after he left but now that they lived closer again, Ken had hoped they could mend some of what had been broken between them. He had hoped that she had grown up enough to do so. Obviously that wasn't the case.  
"Sarcasm is what I do to deal, dad. Would you rather I was emo and depressed?" she said. God, she so wished this conversation was over, it sobered her - and not just from her marihuana high.  
"I wish you would talk to me," he told her.  
"I thought that was what I was doing here. I tell you that you suck as a dad, you tell me that I suck as a daughter and then we part both angry at ourselves for not being able to just let it go," she gave back and they stared at each other for a moment. Beca remembered that her eyes could possibly reveal that she had been smoking so she dropped the gaze after a moment.  
"I'm sorry that you feel that way, Beca. I... I know I haven't been a good dad for some years but... life has been happening, and I was too far away to have you in it. And your mom wouldn't hear of moving closer... I just couldn't make all the demands of my life meet," he tried to explain.  
"Well, this demand has run dry - I don't want anything from you right now, dad, I just wanna go home and catch up on some sleep," she told him plainly and started to walk away.  
"Beca," she heard him say, but it was not even another demand to hear him out. He just sounded defeated.


	6. Chapter 6

Beca entered her dormroom and practically fell from the door onto her bed, her face simply burying into her pillow.  
"Dammit, dad, damn, damn, damn! Thanks for ruining a perfectly good morning... damn," she groused into it then sighed dramatically. She kicked her shoes from her feet and slipped out of her jacket, throwing it into the general direction of the closet. Maybe she should just take a nap, maybe things would be better if she slept for an hour or two. Maybe she would even dream of Chloe, now there was a thought. But as she tried to get more comfortable, her phone vibrated in her jeans pocket.  
It was a text, no, it was a text from Chloe. Beca grinned.  
 _I forgot to ask, will you be at the riff-off tonight?_  
"Riff off, what the fuck is a?" She mused as she was typing just that. The answer came back cryptically:  
 _Your fellow-acas should know. Just be at the pool at 8.30. It's gonna be aca-awesome._  
"Aca-awesome? Seriously, girl?" Beca smiled at the text and once again began typing.  
 _I'll be there. BTW, what r u wearing?_  
 _You know what I'm wearing, you saw me dress, rmb?_  
 _Am I actually so awkward at this that u can't tell when I'm trying to sext?_ Beca bit her lip waiting for the answer.  
 _You are aware that I'm sitting in my philosophy class! U r wicked, B!_  
 _I have u know that I'm horny, C!_ the brunette answered immediately and she felt that this was actually once again true. Her encounter with her dad might have sobered her but Chloe had the superpower of turning her on with just a few texts, she really was amazing.  
 _Hmmm, I wonder why that is? Couldn't have anything to do with our goodmorning-kiss, right?_  
 _Or our goodnight-kiss._  
 _Or the touching that was going on simultaneously?_ Chloe teased.  
 _What touching was that? I seem to have forgotten about it._ Beca gave back and grinned at her phone. She was getting more comfortable on the bed and lay her left hand on her stomach.  
 _Very clever, Mitchell. I seem to recall that I grabbed your ass at some point, cute little ass._  
 _I remember that now. I also remember your eager tongue in my mouth._  
 _Well, u were sucking it in. There was really nothing I could do._  
 _Damn, girl, I wish u were here, so I could do it again._  
 _I wish I was there so that u could do me._ Beca moaned at this vivid text, her hand drifting under her shirt finding sensitive skin.  
 _Tell me how you would want it._  
 _I'd want it slow, and hot, and wet._ Beca whimpered but before she could reply she got another text from Chloe:  
 _Are u touching urself?_  
 _Just my breasts so far._  
 _Damn, Heigl and breasts don't go together well. Maybe you should think about moving your hand lower?_  
 _Like where?_  
 _Into your pants, you little perv._ Beca laughed.  
 _What would my hand be doing there?_  
 _Don't tell me ur hand has never been in ur pants before._  
 _It has but it likes to do different things there._ The brunette grinned but also did what Chloe had told her to do. She closed her eyes momentarily, enjoying the first touch that went down across her lower belly. Then her phone vibrated again.  
 _Does it like to carress? Does it like to stroke?_ Beca moaned at the words more than at the action that followed them. Chloe sure knew how to do this.  
 _It does like and it does do._  
 _R U WET?_  
 _!!!_  
 _So am I._  
"Gawd, woman, you're... mhhhmmmm...." a low gutteral sound build in Beca's throat and was released in a shuttering breath.  
 _Damn, I'm already close._ She wrote and wasn't even sure that it reached Chloe this clearly. Her ability to communicate seemed to falter.  
 _Push inside. I want you to fill urself and pretend that it's me doing u._  
 _So good._  
 _Deeper, take me deeper._  
 _I urrghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh coming._

"Hey, guys," Beca plopped down on the grass next to Darnell and fist-bumped him. It was already afternoon but Beca had actually fallen asleep after... right after. But she felt good now, relaxed, freshly showered and changed. And she knew she would see Chloe later and that was another added bonus of the day.  
"Hey, Becs. Here, try this, it'll blow your mind," Louis gave her the joint that's been going around and she took a deep drag. She held it until it felt like it would burn the walls of her lungs then she blew it out in rings from her mouth. Louis giggled.  
"So cool," he said.  
Beca gave the reefer to Darnell who felt complied to show his own skills at blowing smoke rings.  
"Hey, what's this I hear about a riff-off? What is that?" She asked her fellow High Notes and Louis snickered. He was so high, her couldn't keep up but he laughed about everything that was being said. Beca wondered what he heard and saw. Then she looked pointedly at Darnell since nobody else seemed willing or able to answer her question.  
"It's an a cappella thing," he said and she nodded.  
"So I gathered."  
"It's about singing songs... with our mouths," he continued and she nodded again to show him that she understood and that he should continue. Only, he didn't, he seemed to have had his say.  
"That's it?"  
"What more should there be. It's what a cappella is about. We gather, we sing," he answered lazily. "Why do you ask?"  
"Because it's tonight," she answered.  
"What's tonight?" Nadine asked as she sat down. She actually looked like a student for a minute there with her bag, her eyes clear of any kind of artificial high. She smiled at Beca who smiled back.  
"The riff-off," Beca told her.  
"Really? We're so going, right, D?" She addressed Darnell who seemed to be the spokesperson or captain of the group and he contemplated the idea.  
"Yeah, sure. Let's see how the Bellas and the Trebles are showing off again. I'm sure Bumper will whip those girls into shape," he snickered.  
"Unless Aubrey tears him a new one," Nadine said and opened a cigarette case from which she took another joint since the last one had already run its course.  
"It's my turn," Beca offered and awkwardly pulled an old-timey pouch out of her pocket. She hadn't prepared anything for this moment and started to pull out her stuff. Nadine giggled.  
"It's okay, Beca. I got this one," she told the younger girl and lit up. Beca looked up at her a little disappointed. "Don't worry, you get the hang of it."  
"Don't treat me like a child. I've been doing this since I was 16 - I'm just a little out of practice, is all," Beca snapped and shook her head when Nadine wanted to hand her the smoke. Nadine took another pull and leaned over to Beca. She pressed her lips to the brunette's and let the smoke fill Beca's mouth and consequently her lungs as the freshman inhaled.  
"Didn't mean to offend you," she said when they parted. Beca nodded thoughtfully.  
"It's alright," she answered but Nadine seemed to think there was still some making up to do and her lips returned once again to Beca's, kissing her deeply this time. The brunette let it happen but without much enthusiasm. She thought of Chloe and the fact that the redhead wouldn't mind if she saw her with Nadine like this. Like it shouldn't bother her when she saw Chloe with Marc. Yet it did, and she also minded Nadine pushing her tongue inside her mouth when she only wanted Chloe to do that to her. All this was kind of serious, and weird, and not at all what should be going through her mind right now. But the thoughts stayed with her and so did Nadine's kisses.

They were the first group to enter the pool and Beca was glad she had her jacket on. It had turned cold after the sun had gone down and there seemed to be an extra chill on this side of campus. Or maybe it was just that the whole setting was a little creepy.  
"This is where people get murdered in horror movies," she mumbled but nobody paid any attention. Her fellow High Notes seemed quite comfortable in their surroundings and sat down on the dirty green tiles of the pool. Beca kept standing, watching for other people to enter this eery place and it didn't take long for the Trebles to appear. They were a roudy group, Benji - the newest member - seemed more than a little awkward and he looked around himself like he, too, felt the creepiness of the place. Beca smiled over at him and he nodded at her.  
The Harmonics were the next group of acas to arrive. Jesse came over to her and gave her a hug. He felt her chill.  
"You cold?"  
"No, creeped out by this place. Why would we meet here of all places?" she asked.  
"Because the acoustics are excellent. Just like in a shower," he explained.  
"You had to say that, right?" Beca mused but he only looked at her questioningly. "Never mind," she told him and tried not to think about when she last sang in the shower - and someone had admired her acoustics. That person and her fellow Bellas had just entered the pool, again fashionably late. But everybody seemed to expect it. Chloe looked over at her and waved her fingers. Beca smiled at her but couldn't help blushing at the wink the redhead gave her.  
"You okay there? You seem a little flushed," Jesse commented and she threw him an exasperated look. "What did I do?" he asked.  
"Nothing, just... I think this thing's going to happen, you should go back to your Harmonies," she told him and gave him a push.  
"Harmonics," Jesse corrected her but went over to the group he belonged to. Justin arrived and asked for a beat, everybody gathered more closely, excited.  
Beca felt chills going down her spine, the acoustics were really quite good and she couldn't wait to hear everbody sing. She didn't need to wait long. Justin had some kind of remote in his hand and threw an image at one of the walls, it was... like a wheel of fortune, it turned and than it showed 'Ladies of the 80s.' There seemed to be some commotion, Beca felt completely overwhelmed, her eyes darting from the High Notes to the Bellas where Aubrey shrieked excitedly to the Trebles who seemed to run into formation at the middle of the pool, blocking Aubrey and then they sang:  
"Oh, MIckey, you're so find, you're so fine you blow my mind. Hey, Mickey, hey, hey. Hey, Mickey. Oh, Mickey, you're..." where they were interrupted by one of the Harmonic's girls:  
"You're so find and you're mine..." starting with Madonna's Like a Virgin. And suddenly Beca knew how this all worked and how amazing all this was when Aubrey kicked in with:  
"Like the one in me, that's okay, let's see how you do it. Put up your dukes, let's get down to it -" HIt Me With Your Best Shot by Pat Benetar sang in those lovely Bellas' voices. Beca could hardly contain he excitement about this. It was... and then she saw Lisa from her own group get up and she mentally prepared herself to fall into a song, any song. Only, Lisa wasn't quite ready for this.  
"Away...," she sang. And then: "It must have been love but it's over now... it's over right now," and her fellow High Notes laughed. Were they all too stoned to do this? Beca wondered. What about herself, was she too stoned? But she wanted to participate, she wanted to... sing.  
Beca looked over at Chloe who talked to Amy, they were so animated, so excited about this. And once again, Beca felt the disappointment of the fact that she hadn't made it into this group of women. She looked at her own fellow acas and her eyes met Darnell's. There seemed to lie a challenge there, he grinned. She gave the look back defiantly but also grinned.  
Justin reengaged his device of genre-seeking and came up with.  
"Songs about sex," and it was amazing how fast the first voice broke the expectant silence of the pool. It was a Bella, Beca still didn't know her name but she had a magnificent voice and she started with Rihanna's S&M. The curvy brunette joined in and they were dancing seductively at the Trebles. Those answered with Let's Talk About Sex, back to the Bellas. Beca couldn't even comprehend how fast this was going when Jesse jumped in from the Harmonics side. And it looked like they would win this whole thing when Beca had a stroke of inspiration and she ran forwards and:  
"It's going down, fade to Blackstreet the homies got RB, collab' creations, bump like acne no doubt..." Beca started No Diggity waving Jesse from his spot in the middle of the pool. He succumbed but there were no other voices but hers, she was alone in this. She turned to the High Notes while finishing Dre's rap but her friends just stared at her. But she wasn't going to give this up, the ball was hers and she was gonna run with it. She looked over at Chloe and the redhead smiled at her, nodding encouragingly and when Beca started the verse, she heard another voice joining hers, a deep voice, a smooth voice. It was Darnell and he now stood:  
"Shorty, get down, good Lord; Baby got 'em open all over town," they sang together and it sounded amazing. Beca felt a laugh bubble up inside her but she kept on singing and the other High Notes joined in after Darnell. And they sounded good - to everyone's amazement they sounded fantastic. The Harmonics joined the High Notes with background vocals, the Bellas belted, only the Trebles just stood and watched as the whole pool around them erupted into this song until Beca ended it with:  
"We out!" She tried to keep her cool but she just couldn't, she jumped at Darnell who hugged her.  
"That was amazing," she laughed.  
"You were great," he told her. They parted when Justin's loud voice was heard through the elated ruckus.  
"Alright, it's a tough call, everyone. But the word that you had to match was 'It' and you sang 'It's'," he told Beca. There were some protesting voices and Beca could actually hear Aubrey shout:  
"I never heard of that rule." But there was no arguing, Justin gave the microphone that was the price of this competition to Jesse and the Harmonics. The Trebles booh-ed but Jesse and his group danced in victory. Beca was happy for her friend though her competitive nature was eager to challenge Jesse to another round of this. But obviously, it wasn't going to be tonight because there was music coming from a surround system now and people started dancing and talking and drinking, too.  
And there were two arms sneakng around her waiste from behind.  
"You were incredible," she heard Chloe's voice at her ear as the redhead pressed into her from behind. Beca laughed. Then she turned in Chloe's embrace and the two women kissed, deeply.  
"Mhhhhmmmm," Chloe made when they parted. She interlinked their fingers and started dancing with the freshman. And this time there was no timelimit attached to their movements, no guy in a gray sweater to divert Chloe's attention from Beca, just the two of them moving against each other in perfect sync.


	7. Chapter 7

Aubrey watched Chloe with Beca and she didn't like this combination at all. Given, Chloe's taste in people was questionable at best - that guy Marc, not only was he not in Chloe's league, they didn't even play the same game - but the stoner girl, she was a new low.  
The blonde went over to the table with the alcoholic beverages and got herself something wicked in a blue cup. She didn't much care what was in it, at least with alcohol she always knew why she was puking. It tasted a little like soap with coke, good enough. She kept her position at the table when she saw Chloe coming over, smiling like she didn't have a care in the world. She took one of the red cups.  
"Hey, 'Brey," she said happily.  
"Hey, Chloe. You look like you're having fun," she unnecessarily pointed out.  
"It's a cool party. We did good tonight," Chloe smiled.  
"Well, we didn't win."  
"You don't always have to win to have a good time, 'Brey," the redhead told her and linked their arms. She looked back at the dancing crowd, finding a certain brunette easily dancing with Jesse from the Harmonics.  
"You toner is showing, Chlo," Aubrey said next and Chloe looked at her. She giggled.  
"You should really stop pointing them out, 'Brey. And I've aleady figured out my newest toner, so, thank you very much." She took a deep sip from her drink, smiling at Aubrey all the while.  
"I don't know what you see in her, she's just another High Note with the emphasize on High."  
"Did you hear her sing? She has an amazing voice. And she's cute and... sexy and, damn, she's got moves...," Chloe made a purring noise deep in her throat.  
"Is it TMI-Tuesday already?" Aubrey sighed.  
"You were talking about my toner and... well, we haven't even had sex yet. I was talking about her dancing," the redhead said. Aubrey lifted an eyebrow at her friend.  
"You haven't had sex yet? Now that's news. Does she play hard to get?"  
"Are you trying to slut-shame me, 'Brey?" Chloe laughed.  
"No, not at all but let's face it, it's a rare occasion when you got your eyes on someone and keep your hands off." Aubrey grinned.  
"You're right. It's just... it's so much fun to tease her and just... take it slow," Chloe's eyes were shining as she said it and they went back to Beca immediately, seeking her, following her every move.  
"Oh my God!" Aubrey exclaimed and Chloe looked back at her.  
"What?"  
"You're falling for her!" the blonde accused.  
"What? No," Chloe exclaimed then calmed herself. "That's not it at all. It's... just fun, you know me. I'm not doing... all that."  
"Uh huh, right. You should really be more careful how you look at people, then, because the way you just looked at that little pothead had LOVE written all over it," Aubrey stated.  
"You're playing me," Chloe gave back but Aubrey just shook her head. "I'm not in love," Chloe said but it sounded thoughtful rather than convinced or convincing.  
"I hope not, especially after what I saw this afternoon," the tall blonde said. Chloe looked at her, she knew that her friend wanted her to ask and she very much wanted to disappoint her. Only... she couldn't  
"Okay, what did you see?"  
"Your new friend and the blonde over there... they were all over each other," Aubrey pointed at Nadine. When Aubrey looked back at Chloe she saw hurt in her eyes but it only lasted a second then Chloe smiled.  
"Well, that just shows, we're not exclusive. We're not in love, everything's just as it should be," Chloe told her friend and then went away. Aubrey wanted to stop her, she wanted to say that she was sorry for what she's said, the way she'd said it. She hadn't meant to hurt her friend - though it was the truth, she had seen Beca and Nadine kissing each other this afternoon.

Chloe made her way back to Beca. She pushed in behind her and moved against her. The small brunette turned and they danced very close for some time. When Beca tried to kiss the redhead, however, Chloe pulled away. Beca looked at her surprised. Chloe linked their hands and pulled Beca away from everybody up to the shallow end. They both got another drink before they climbed out of the pool.  
"Hey, is everything okay?" Beca asked as Chloe walked away from the crowd, emptying her blue cup rather quickly.  
"Yeah, sure. I just... I think I'm going to have a headache."  
"Well, if you keep chugging down drinks like that, it's no surprise," Beca said smiling but she sobered when she saw that Chloe wasn't in the mood for jokes. "Hey, is it bad? I mean, I'm sure I've got some ibuprofen in my dormroom. We could go get it," she suggested.  
"No, it's not... bad. I..." Chloe sighed. "Can we just take a walk, maybe?"  
"Sure," Beca nodded and Chloe linked arms with her as they set out over campus. They didn't talk although Beca had the feeling that there was something on the other girl's mind. And sure enough, after a couple of minutes Chloe said, apropos of nothing:  
"Say, have you told Nadine about... us? I mean, does she know that we... are 'friends with benefits?'" She used the phrase she hated so much.  
"Yeah, sure, she knows. I mean it was hard to overlook the way you kissed me tonight, right?" Beca grinned.  
"I guess. But you told her, right?"  
"Yeah, I did. What's this about? She hasn't said anything to you, has she?" Chloe shook her head.  
"No, we haven't talked. I was just wondering."  
"She's cool with it, though I don't know. I think she likes me more than I like her... it's really not like I'm that into her. I'll probably tell her that we should just be friends," she told Chloe and watched closely for a reaction from the redhead.  
"Oh, okay. I mean, that's your call, of course." Chloe said but she seemed a little fidgety, a little out of sorts. Maybe she did indeed have a headache but somehow Beca thought it was something else. And then there was that sly grin that appeared on Chloe's beautiful features after she said it. Had she been jealous - or was that just wishful thinking on Beca's part? And why would she be jealous when she was the one who was seeing someone else on the side?  
"I mean, she's really nice and I like her but... I think she's looking for something else, something real. I'm not that girl for her," Beca stated and Chloe nodded.  
"You wouldn't wanna hurt her," the redhead agreed.  
"No." They walked a little further in silence, Chloe pushing her hand into Beca's jacket pocket to intertwine their fingers. Beca laughed and tried to take their hands out of her pocket. They both giggled as their hands got stuck. They disentangled from the fabric and went on holding hands. Chloe pulled Beca to her and they bumped shoulders, all the while laughing.  
"You're so drunk, Chlo," Beca said.  
"No, I'm not. I'm almost entirely sober," Chloe gave back.  
"You sure, nothing's blurry or anything?"  
"Blurry, why would anything be blurry? I have perfect vision," she told Beca.  
"I don't know, Jesse confused some short haired chick with Luke. His vision didn't seem so good," the brunette laughed.  
"He took a chick for Luke, you station manager? The guy with the six-pack?" They laughed together.  
"I know. I don't get it, either."  
"Maybe it was wishful thinking and he hoped to see him," Chloe indicated.  
"What? No... Jesse is... not gay. At least, that's what he told me and I'm going to believe me until he tells me differently," Beca said.  
"He doesn't need to be gay to like guys," the redhead gave back.  
"I know that, though I'm not sure Jesse does. He's a little on the naive side."  
"Well, that will change when he's been longer with the Harmonics. Those can be snarky bitches, I'm telling you," Chloe said.  
"I hope it doesn't change, he's kinda goofy and sweet. I like that in him," the freshman gave back.  
"But you're not... like... into him, right? I mean, you like girls exclusively, right?"  
"Right," Beca nodded.  
"And you like me, right?" Chloe pulled her to a stop and they looked at each other. Beca lifted her hand to Chloe's face and brushed a lock of hair behind her ear.  
"Right," she repeated.  
"And I turn you on," Chloe stated. She put her face very close to Beca's but not quite close enough so that they would touch.  
"I thought we had already established that this morning via text," Beca smirked and blushed at the same time.  
"I wish I could have been there to watch you," Chloe whispered in Beca's ear and the brunette bit her lip, trying hard to suppress a moan. "And to hear you come." A whimper worked itself lose from Beca's throat. "But tonight I will," she told Beca and the freshman nodded.  
"Please," she rasped. "Take me home."


	8. Chapter 8

They had just entered Chloe's room when their lips and hands were all over each other. Beca pressed Chloe against the door, her thigh sliding between the redhead's who moaned deeply.  
"Damn, Be...," but she was interrupted by a pair of eager lips who latched onto hers with ferocity. Chloe pushed away from the door, holding the brunette's head in her hands, deepening the kiss. Her heart hammered so wildly in her chest that she couldn't hear anything else. She pulled Beca to her, it was more of a tight hug while her lips sucked at her neck.  
"Oh, Chloe," and it was such a lovely sound that it burst through the wall of Chloe's heart and she found her eyes fill with tears and her breath coming short and forcefully. She pushed Beca away and sat down on her bed.  
"Chloe? Are you all right?" Beca asked and her voice sounded worried. The redhead shook her head and closed her eyes. She was trying to concentrate on her breathing but there was this feeling, and there was this thought, and then there were Aubrey's words 'your're falling for her.'  
"Shhhh," Beca rubbed her back. "It's okay. You're gonna be okay," and Chloe's tears fell from her eyes onto her jeans as she hugged her middle as if in a cramp. But she wasn't cramping unless the heart can in a sudden acknowledgement that it was still able to feel.  
"Okay, I have an idea," Beca said as her rubbing and her words didn't seem to help Chloe. She pulled a pouch from her pocket and then she started making a joint. Chloe watched her fingers work mesmerized and it calmed her down a little.  
"What are you doing?" She asked when Beca put the reefer into her mouth and pulled a lighter from her pocket.  
"We're going to smoke this and it will calm you down," Beca told her but Chloe shook her head.  
"Aubrey will flip when she smells the smoke. If we smoke in here, she's gonna kill us both," the redhead told Beca who only shrugged.  
"Then we smoke at the open window. Come on. It'll help, I promise," she went to the window and opened it wide. Then she lit up and took a deep pull. Chloe came over curiously watching the brunette.  
"I've never smoked anything before, not even a cigarette," she said.  
"Never?" The information seemed to amuse the freshman but Chloe still shook her head. "But you know how it works," she stated and Chloe shrugged. Didn't everybody know how smoking worked?  
Chloe came to stand next to Beca, her breathing normal as long as she didn't think about... anything. Beca handed her the joint and Chloe looked at it. It certainly looked different from the industrially produced standard cigarettes her father smoked. She looked at Beca tentatively but the brunette nodded encouragingly. Chloe put her lips to the joint and pulled.  
"Not too much at first, take it easy," Beca told her but as soon as the smoke filled her mouth, Chloe began to cough. "That's okay, it always happens," Beca told her and took the smoke from Chloe's hands. "Come here," she pulled her close, just holding her, rubbing her back again. Beca leaned against the wall next to the window.  
"Let's try this. I take a pull and let it drift into your mouth, okay?" Chloe nodded, not at all convinced that that would make anything better. But she felt good with Beca' arm around her, her earlier anxiety not forgotten but pushed to the back of her mind. Truth be told, she would do pretty much anything right now to forget what had happened just a few minutes ago.  
Beca inhaled from the joint and pulled Chloe closer. The redhead opened her mouth and Beca very slowly let the smoke drift over her lips into the other woman's mouth. Chloe closed her eyes against the smoke but it burned less inside her mouth now. She inhaled some of it but that immediately made her cough again.  
"Wow, that's... whoooo," she said.  
"I know, it's uncomfortable at first. I never got the hang of smoking cigarettes but I like the effect of the dope," she confessed. She kissed Chloe gently.  
"Mhmmmm," Chloe made. "That's so much nicer than the smoke," she said.  
"Yeah, it is," Beca agreed. She wanted to ask why it had made Chloe panic earlier if it was so nice but she didn't. She felt that Chloe didn't want to talk about it, didn't even want to think about it. But that was, after all, what marihuana was for: to dim memories. "Wanna try once more, though?" She asked and Chloe, after a moment's hesitation, nodded. They did it as before with Beca blowing some smoke into Chloe's mouth and the redhead inhaling some. It burned less now, she acknowledged. They kissed some more, just standing in their embrace infront of the window. Enjoying the cool night air, their proximity, the laziness that swept over them until Beca flipped the reefer-stub out of the window.  
Chloe pressed her body against Beca's, humming under her breath and then kissing the freshman. It was more moderate than before but somehow more intimate, the way they took their time to explore, to feel. When they parted, Chloe looked at Beca curiously.  
"Would you sing for me?" she asked.  
"Sing for you? Now?" Chloe nodded. She pulled Beca towards her bed.  
"We should leave it open for awhile," she said as Beca pointed at the window. They lay down on the bed, both shedding their shoes before getting comfortable. Chloe lay on her back, looking up at Beca and the freshman leaned over her, brushing the hair from Chloe's forehead.  
"Sing for me," the redhead repeated and Beca cleared her thraot. She thought for a moment. Then:  
"Oh, her eyes, her eyes make the stars look like they're not shining, her hair, her hair falls perfectly without her trying. She's so beautiful, and I tell her everyday..." Beca sang Bruno Mars' Just the Way You Are. Chloe's eyes filled with tears but they simply rolled out of the corners of her eyes and into her hair. She didn't panic again, she didn't hyperventilate, she just acknowledged that Aubrey was right - she was indeed falling, hard.

Seriously? Aubrey stood in the door to her and Chloe's apartment, her nose a little lifted and smelled - smoke. She huffed impatiently before closing the door and walking through the living room then down the corridor towards Chloe's door. She wanted to just barge into the redhead's room, not caring what exactly they were doing in there when something stopped her - she heard no sounds from the room. She listened closely but nothing stirred, no voices, nothing and there was no light streaming underneath the door either.  
Could she have been wrong? Could there have been someone smoking in the hall and it just drifted into their apartment? But the smell of smoke was more intense here, someone had definitely been smoking in Chloe's room. And it hadn't been a cigarette either.  
Aubrey put her hand on the doorknob and very carefully cracked the door open just a bit. There ware still no noises... not any of human origin at least. But she could here music as if from a distance and... cars. Aubrey pushed the door open wider, the light from the hall streaming into the room and onto the two figures on the bed. They were fully clothed, the smaller figure in the back holding her best friend who... smiled. Aubrey sighed silently and put her hand to her mouth. It was so sweet.  
A shiver in her friend pulled Aubrey out of her musings and she noticed that the noises she had heard had come from the open window. The Bellas captain tiptoed into the room and quietly closed it. Then she left the room with another look at the happily smiling redhead.  
"You got it bad, my friend," she whispered and suddenly this thought wasn't at all unpleasant to Aubrey if it made Chloe smile in her sleep, if it made her stop sleeping with guys who weren't good enough for her. Not that Beca was but... Aubrey could live with the small brunette if it meant that Chloe would be able to love again.

Aubrey was having breakfast in the kitchen when a sleep-tousled Beca came through the living room.  
"Morning," she greeted the tall blonde who looked up from her morning paper.  
"You have been smoking in the apartment," Aubrey accused right away and Beca looked up at her through sleepy eyes.  
"Well, yeah, we... it was an emergency," the freshman said, not at all sure if she should tell Aubrey about what had happened last night. But maybe the blonde knew what had caused Chloe's sudden panic?  
"An emergency? A pothead emergency? What is that exactly? Did things get too real?" Aubrey scoffed.  
"No, well, not for me. Chloe... she had a panic attack.. she hyperventilated and the smoke helped calm her down."  
"A panic attack? Chloe?" Aubrey asked, both her eyebrows raised. "What did you do to her?"  
"I didn't do anything to her, we were... kissing and then suddenly she was breathing all funny and crying," Beca defended herself.  
"Just like that? You must have done something," Aubrey accused.  
"We were just... getting it one. I could have understood the breathing but... she pushed me away and didn't seem able to calm herself. Has something like that happened before?" She asked but Aubrey shook her head.  
"Not that I know of," she mused. Her expression turned thoughtful, she remembered what they had been talking about at the pool. Herself accusing Chloe of falling in love, the redhead denying it, Beca kissing Chloe, emotions rising - the picture of two people in a lover's embrace that had surprised Aubrey so much. "The marihuana helped then?" she finally asked.  
"Well, I'm not sure it was the smoke. Marihuana has little effect when you try it the first time but I guess trying something for the first time, just concentrating on something else... yeah, she calmed down again," Beca said and Aubrey nodded.  
"Is she still asleep?"  
"In the shower," the freshman answered. "Say, would it be okay if I got a coffee?" She pointed at the machine on the counter, the smell of freshly brewed coffee having made her leave Chloe's room in the first place.  
"Sure, help yourself," Beca nodded and made her way around the counter. She looked into a cupboard and took two mugs down - one had 'Cloey' written on it in a child's handwriting, Beca smiled at seeing it.  
"Did Chloe say what had caused the panic?" Aubrey asked the freshman as she poured the coffee for herself and Chloe.  
"No, she didn't wanna talk about it and I didn't press it."  
"Hm," Aubrey made. "I guess she'll be talking about it when she's ready," she murmured and went back to her paper.  
Beca wasn't sure if waiting was the best course of action - or non-action. She had been debating asking Chloe about this since she woke but the redhead had been her normal self again, chipper, cuddly if not quite in the mood for something more intimate. Maybe it was just... nerves? Beca pondered as she made her way back to Chloe's room, two coffee mugs in hand. But why would she be nervous when before she had just been eager?


	9. Chapter 9

Beca was lounging on the lawn. It seemed like she did that a lot since she'd started studying - or not-studying. She liked the atmosphere on the commons, young people reading, or talking, or even playing the occasional card game. Her father had been right, after all, getting out there wasn't too bad. Of course, she rarely participated in anything other than smoking weed, her laptop usually right at her sight so she could hear music while the others talked. But she was alone at the moment, and yes, her laptop was once again with her and providing her with some sick beats.  
Beca thought about Chloe, not surprisingly. They hadn't talked about her panic, they hadn't talked much at all after she brought them both coffee since Chloe had told her that she needed to go to the library for some research on an essay she was writing. Beca had left it at that for now. Maybe Aubrey was right and the redhead would open up on her own.   
Beca felt footsteps getting closer and then stop. She cracked her eyes open and looked up at Jesse who had a goofy grin on his face, goofier than usual that was.  
"Hey, Jess, sit down, why don't you," Beca said since she had to shield her eyes against the sun that stood behind him. He sat down, still grinning.  
"Hey, Beca. How're you?" He pulled his ever-present backpack open and took some cookies out, then a bottle with some juice. Jesse was the weirdest, Beca imagined him as the one kid in high school who always brought sandwiches from home, in a metal lunch box, possibly with a comic book-hero on it. Or considering it was Jesse it would probably have been a movie character or at least a tv show.  
"What's up with the smile? Did you have a good night... oh my God, you got laid!" Beca blurted out to the delight of a group of people sitting not too far away and grinning at Jesse who quickly said:  
"No, what! No! I did not..." he calmed and groused: "I did not get laid."  
"What's the grin for then? It looks like a I-got-lucky-grin to me," she accused.   
"I didn't, okay. I... I had a good time at the party, that's all," he told her and she smiled.  
"Yeah, it was pretty cool," she assented and smiled.  
"Well, how about that, I guess someone has an I-got-lucky-vibe of her own going," he said but in a more moderate voice than she had used earlier.  
"Actually..." she shook her head.  
"No? Seriously? You guys had been all over each other when you left. You didn't get any?"  
"Well, I wouldn't say I didn't get anything... it was... there was some kissing and some touching, yes, but... we didn't go all the way. It was... more..." Beca shook her head, this time at the lack of words. Then again, maybe 'more' was exactly what it had been.  
"Sounds like someone's... going in deep," Jesse said and smiled. Beca looked at him for a couple of moments, thoughtful.  
"Maybe. Though I might get into it alone," she assessed and made a face. She always had to remind herself that though Chloe was all kinds of sweet and affectionate for her it was just about the sex - beside the friendship. Beca sighed. Jesse inclined his head to make eye-contact.  
"Don't tell me she's not into you because I saw you together last night... you were all over each other," he stated.  
"Yeah, but it's... she's not into commitment. And I'm not sure I am. I mean, sure, it would be nice to have a girlfriend. But, I mean, it's first year in college. Who wants to tie themselves down like that, right?"  
"I don't know. I mean, sure you think about what your first year in college would be like but I didn't really dream of... 'sexual conquests.' I actually wondered more about the classes I would take, the kind of people I would become friends with, that kind of thing, you know?" She laughed a little.  
"Did you imagine yourself becoming part of a group that mostly consists of gay guys and their hags, though?" She asked and he shook his head, grinning.  
"No, but... it's cool. The guys are great. Sure, I sometimes catch one of them checking me out but... most of the time they're all talking about the guys on the swim team. They're obsessed with them. The other day, Raymond suggested that we rehearse at the indoor pool because of the 'acoustics,'" he told her and she laughed.  
"All rights, yeah, the 'acoustics,'" she agreed. She casually reached into her pocket and pulled a tin box out from which she took a spliff. She lighted it and started smoking. After a moment's hesitation she offered it to Jesse but her friend shook his head.  
"Not into that," he told her and she nodded.  
"That's cool. As long as you don't judge me." He shook his head but she could see from his expression that he wasn't completely comfortable with it. What seemed to bother him the most, though, was her casual attitude. This was the commons, security walked by all the time, as did teachers. Maybe he thought that these kind of things should be done in a dark back alley, or in some cockroach-infested room in an abandoned building.  
"What does Chloe think of it?" He pointed at her smoke. Beca shrugged.  
"I'm not sure she does," she answered him.  
"Hm," he made.  
"It's not like I'm smoking all the time when I'm around her. Last night was actually the first time. She keeps my mouth busy with other stuff, if you get my drift," she grinned at him and saw him blush.  
"I hope you're talking about kissing because I'm not ready to hear of any other stuff you guys do with your mouths." Beca laughed at the comment, feeling herself reminded of what Chloe had said about a cappella at their first meeting. 'It's all from our mouths.' What promising statement.  
"We do kiss and sometimes we... talk," she teased and he rolled his eyes at her. "And on a very rare occasion... we sing... or rather I sang to her last night," Beca confessed and this time she blushed a little.  
"You sang for her? Man, you're such a romantic..."  
"Sucker?" Beca asked and he shook his head.  
"Just wouldn't have pegged you for the romantic one," he told her.  
"Yeah, well, she asked me..."  
"Beca?" Her father's stern voice rang out over the lawn and Beca's head whipped around.  
"Shit," she said and stubbed out her reefer on the bark of the tree she was leaning against. She hid the stub next to her and smiled at her father who came over.  
"Hey, dad," she said and waved slightly at him. His face was set, she was pretty sure he had seen her smoke.  
"Are you smoking?" he asked her point blank.  
"I, erm... I mean, I'm 19 years old, dad. They're my lungs," she said.  
"Beca, I really would have thought you knew better. Smoking is a bad habit, it can cause cancer and..."  
"Dad," she interrupted him and looked into his eyes as if to say: my life, not yours. He got the message and ground his teeth. "meet Jesse," she then diverted. "Jesse, this is my dad, Dr. Mitchell."  
"Nice to meet you, Dr. Mitchell," Jesse said politely and Beca's father was momentarily caught by surprise.  
"It's nice to meet you, too, erm, Jesse," he said. Then he seemed to remember something and looked at the young man more closely and a little suspiciously. Jesse simply answered his look with an open one.  
"We're working together at the radio station," Beca told her dad.  
"The radio station, right," Dr. Mitchell seemed not happy about this piece of information, either, though really there wasn't anything threatening or offending about the young man. He seemed harmless enough. Of course, any young man hanging out with his daugher was a potential threat...  
"Was there something you wanted, dad? Besides giving me a lecture on the dangers of cigarettes?" Beca interrupted his thoughts.  
"No, I... I was wondering if you would want to come to dinner one of these nights. You know... just dinner," he tried.  
"I don't know, dad. It's probably not such a good idea considering that I really don't want to," she told him plainly.  
"Beca, I'm trying. What else would you have me do?"  
"Actually, I think you're trying too hard. I can't deal with this right now. Maybe... just let me be for awhile, I think about it. I'll talk to mum. Maybe... but don't get your hopes up, okay?" She caught herself rambling and it probably wasn't a good thing if she didn't want him to find out that she was smoking pot. And she didn't want him to find that out. Because then he would tell her mom and her mom would be disappointed that she started smoking again. They had been there before, she didn't want to go through that again.  
"Well, okay. I... It would be nice. We would really like to have you over sometime," he said.  
"Would it be okay if I brought someone?" She asked him.  
"Erm, I, sure... I mean, sure. You could bring someone," and, of course, he presumed it would be Jesse and looked at him for a moment. Beca let him believe that it might be Jesse though she hadn't asked because of him. Somewhere in the back of her mind, a picture appeared of her and Chloe sitting down at her dad's dinner table with her dad and his family. Some kind of 50s postcard of a dysfunctional family where the parents were both married for the second time, their kids weren't related and the daughter turned out to be a lesbian. Beca bid the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing. "Okay, think about it and then... maybe call me," he told her and she nodded.  
"Cool, dad," she said and he nodded. "Bye."  
"Bye, honey. Bye, Jesse, it was nice meeting you," he told the young man and Jesse nodded.  
"Bye, Dr. Mitchell," he said.  
"Bye, Dr. Mitchell," Beca teased him when her father had gone. "God, he probably thinks we're screwing." Jesse had just been drinking from his juice and spewed some of it onto the lawn. He started coughing.  
"You okay?" she asked and he nodded, though still coughing.  
"Yeah, I'm... don't say something like that, 'kay?"  
"Why not? Wasn't that what you were aiming at before?" She asked him and grinned. It was fun teasing the poor guy.  
"I didn't... I mean... I just... I thought it would be nice to... get to know you," he then got out but he blushed furiously.  
"In the biblical sense?"  
"NO!" he said very vehemently and she laughed at him.  
"I'm not sure whether you're just a dork or actually gay, Jess," she told him with a fond expression. She thought, he would deny it again like he had before but he just rolled his eyes at her. "Not that it matters to me either way," she told him.  
"So, you would totally hang with a dork?" He asked her after a moment.  
"Sure, I'm not prejudiced that way," she said and they grinned at each other, knowing that they would be friends for a long time.

The High Notes had found Beca sometime later and Jesse had excused himself. He wasn't comfortable around the group and it didn't surprise Beca. If he was uncomfortably about her smoking with him around, this feeling would increase by the numbers of smokers in his vicinity. She didn't think that it was about the people, though, they were nice enough. At least, she thought so. And then there was, of course, Nadine who was more than nice as she practically crawled over Beca and took her joint from her lips to kiss her. Beca let it happen for now, she wasn't sure how the procedure was if one wanted to tell someone that they should just be friends from now on without any romantic or sexual undertones. Should she broach the subject infront of everyone or should she try and get her alone? But that seemed too much of an afford considering that they had been doing nothing but kissing so far.  
Beca looked around at the group, there were six besides her: Darnell, Nadine, Lisa, Louis, Brick, and a this guy Potter. She didn't know if his name was actually Potter but the group liked to call him that in various kinds of British accents and he usually just grinned at them. Beca presumed that his name had to be Potter since he wasn't wearing any glasses, his hair was neither black nor unruly, and there was no lightning-shaped scar on his forehead.  
Beca took the spliff from Lisa and turned to Nadine who was leaning against her quite comfortably.  
"Hey, Nadine," she said and the blonde looked up at her.  
"Hey, Beca," and she leaned in for another kiss. It was a deep languid kiss and Beca vowed it would be the last one she would share with the other girl. But it lasted some time and there was actually a hand snaking under her top as it lasted. Beca captured same hand before it could latch onto its price and Nadine was so surprised that she lifted her face from Beca's.  
"Sorry," the freshman said, "but... listen, I...I would rather be friends." She said and Nadine looked at her questioningly.  
"I thought that was what we were," she gave back.  
"Yeah, of course, that's what we are but... do you think we could just be friends? I... I kinda... I'm into Chloe and I want to play it cool, y'know. She's kinda got my attention captured," Beca explained. Nadine sat up.  
"Well, if you want to waste your time on her... that's your call, sweety. But you do know that though you may play it cool, Chloe won't, right?" The blonde didn't seem angry, she just seemed to want to let Beca know how things were. And Beca knew, of course, she knew that Chloe wouldn't be exclusive just because she would be.  
"I know," she told Nadine and the blonde nodded.  
"Okay, no more kissing then. You're the one missing out," she told Beca and lay back with her head on Darnell's stomach. He handed her a joint, if it was still the one going around before, Beca couldn't even tell. She took it from Nadine a short while later and pulled deeply. It hadn't been too difficult to talk to Nadine, that was good. Maybe her ego could have handled a little bit more drama in the other girl but it was probably best to not have that for the sake of the group. And speaking of the group... Beca had wanted to talk to them about the singing. It had become obvious to her the other night that they were all rather talented singers, and she really wanted to talk to them about this. They could be good, they could compete in what-were-they-called - ICAAs or something. Beca thought that maybe she could motivate them to practice and then compete. As she looked around them now, though, her optimism faltered. Louis and Potter were shooting paper clips at each other, Nadine seemed to have fallen asleep and Lisa was humming to herself. As usual only Darnell seemed conscious of what was happening at all. He looked at Beca and smiled. Then he looked down his body at the blonde head that was cushioned on his stomach.  
"She'll be okay with this, you know?" He said quietly, not exactly careful that the others wouldn't overhear but still avoiding it.  
"You mean she's not yet?" Beca asked.  
"She has this thing... she really likes kissing - I mean more than most people. And usually she just starts with whoever is joining the group. Last year it was Louis, the year before Lisa. I'm not sure what else had been going on between her and Lisa but I know that Louis never got beyond first base with her. She's affectionate but I think there's actually someone at home for her - a fiancé or someone." Darnell told her and it was the longest she had yet heard him speak.  
"So, she's just playing around?"  
"No, I think she likes you. I think she's actually more into women than she wants to admit to herself. But she'll get over it. Tomorrow she'll just start smooching someone else," he grinned and she nodded. "About Chloe, though... she's not wrong, you know? I wouldn't call her a slut because that's sexist shit. But she's got a rep among us acas. She's not a player, either, she just gives her affections very freely. I think there was something about her being involved with another Bella her first year... bad break-up or something..."  
"Really?" Beca asked surprised. Chloe hadn't told her anything about that but they hadn't really talked about her exes. They had just established that there was Marc.  
Darnell nodded in answer to her question.  
"But, honestly, if you can be with her... under whatever terms, do it. She's... I have a friend who went out with her and he wanted to be exclusive and she didn't. She was completely honest with him and he said that she was the sweetest person he's ever been with. I'm not talking sex here, she is just a good person and I think she's also a great friend because they still keep in touch though he doesn't go here anymore. And she's a redhead, so..." He grinned and she rolled her eyes at him.  
Beca leaned back against the tree, occasionally taking a pull from a joint. She thought some more of Chloe - she understood Darnell's words as high praise, he wasn't someone who talked a lot but he had talked about Chloe. Not that she needed confirmation that Chloe was great, she knew that already but it meant something to her that Darnell had gone out of his way to say these things about the redhead.  
Beca felt her phone vibrate in her pocket and pulled it out. It was a text from her favorite person:  
I was just thinking about you, imagining you stacking cds at the station. Tell me the title of the one you're holding. I need a break and so, I'm going to listen to it, whatever it is. :) Thinking about you.  
It took a moment for Beca to work through this message but when she did she realized that she was supposed to be at work. Jesse had said something about that, too, when he left. 'See you later,' he had said and she had just nodded, not even realizing what he meant.  
Damn. Beca packed her backpack and waved at her friends before she jogged off in the direction of the radio station.


	10. Chapter 10

A couple of minutes later, Beca barged through the door of the station. This wasn't her brightest moment as she could have sneaked in hoping that Luke hadn't noticed her absence yet. But it didn't seem like he had because he was busy - kissing Jesse. They were leaning on the desk, their hands hidden beneath some clothes. They stared at her, she stared at them and then she turned on her heel and left the room again.  
Outside she just stood and stared at nothing for a moment before she burst out laughing.  
"No sex on the desk, my ass," she said to herself. "Or his ass." She couldn't help it, she couldn't contain her laughter although she was quite sure her friends could hear her. The vibration of her phone interrupted her amusement and she remembered that she never answered Chloe's text.  
U so busy stacking cds that u won't answer? or have u and jesse found something better to do?  
Beca grinned.  
Jesse has, I haven't. But i think i'm in trouble. i'm getting back to u l8r. btw, i'm thinking about u 2 - a lot. She texted back and then turned back to the station door. She knocked.  
"Come in," it was Jesse's voice and the next moment he swung the door open and stared at her.  
"You about finished there?" She smirked at him.  
"Very funny, you're late," he told her and went back to work. She came into the room, looking for Luke and finding him in his booth. He didn't look at her, she had the feeling he pointedly didn't look at her. Whatever. Then she would tease only Jesse.  
"Sorry for being late, mate." She said to him. "Though I'd say you're not," she added with a sweet smile.  
"Funny," he just answered and went back to putting some venyl on the shelves.  
"So, is he the reason you were all smiles earlier? I thought you said you didn't get laid, huh? Were you lying to me?" Beca continued and started emptying her own box of cds into the shelves.  
"No, I wasn't. I... when I left the party last night, I met Luke and he asked if I would like to go for a drink. So, I say yeah and the next thing I know we enter this gay bar," his eyes went round at the memory and she laughed at him. "And I mean, we're talking the whole nine yards here: drag queens, gogo dancers, it was... terrifying," he admitted.  
"I bet you played it cool," she said but couldn't contain her laughter.  
"Yeah, right. I must have looked like a deer caught in headlights. Luke sat me down with a drink and told me that he had thought I was gay... well, I tried to deny it... I mean... I didn't really know.. or maybe I still don't..." he stammered. Beca came over to him and put a hand to his arm.  
"It's okay to like chicks and dudes, Jess. Chloe does... though, if you'll ever make a pass at her... that's not okay anymore!" She told him plainly.  
"I got you," he said and smiled weakly.   
"So what happened then?" Beca asked and resumed her work.  
"Nothing much, I mean... we talked and we drank a little... and then we danced," Jesse told Beca and his smile got a little more confident.  
"You danced with Luke. Hm, I bet he's good at that, too," she said and made Jesse blush again.  
"Will you stop with the inuendo, please? This is... hard enough, you know?"  
"Why wouldn't I know? I've been there, Jesse," she told him and after awhile he nodded. "And you know, it shouldn't be such a big deal. We should grow up with the knowledge that loving whoever we want is okay. Or just having sex with whomever we want."  
"You're right but I can't even begin to think of what my dad will say if he finds out. I'm not even sure my mom would understand," Jesse said.  
"I know. My dad still doesn't know and I've been out to my mom for close to three years now."  
"Do you think he'll understand?" They worked side by side now, just talking and stacking cd. It was an easy job, not challenging at all which meant a lot of time talking. But they had never talked like this. They never knew they could until this afternoon. It felt good.  
"It doesn't really matter to me what my dad understands or doesn't," Beca said.  
"Really? That's why you hid the joint from him this afternoon? Because it doesn't matter?" He saw through her tough act. She smiled self-deprecatingly.  
"Alright, maybe it matters a little but honestly... when I asked him whether I could bring someone to dinner, I thought about Chloe. I thought maybe I could tell him... and Sheila, I guess. I just... I don't know my dad that well. I don't know where he stands on homosexuality. My mom says that he'll probably be cool given time... I don't know that I want to give him time, seeing how he's already taken so much time to acknowledge he's got a daughter that he might want to have in his life," she said.  
"He doensn't seem a bad guy, though," Jesse put in. "He'll probably be cool. My dad, on the other hand... he's conservative, he's Republican... doubtful that he'll understand."  
"Does he love you?" Beca asked.  
"Of course, he does. He's.. my dad."  
"See, I never could answer that question about my dad. I still can't." She told him and he nodded thoughtfully. "Hey," Beca roused him from these same thoughts and he looked up at her. "It'll be okay, you know? 10% of this country are queer like us. There's gonna be a lot of love in your life - some of it might even come from Luke," she teased and he blushed but was also grinning. "But there's definitely gonna be some from yours truly," she told him earnestly.  
"I knew you just wanted to get into my pants," he dead-panned and she made a face. This time it was him who laughed at her and she rolled her eyes.  
"In your wet dreams, buddy." She gave back and for awhile they just worked quietly beside each other.  
"Hey," he then called out to her and she looked up at him. "I love you, too." He blushed lightly but smiled. She smiled back at him.

Chloe was sitting at her laptop in the library, a book open beside it - in turns reading and typing.   
Beca was watching her from the door for a moment, smiling at how the redhead's nose scrunched up or she frowned at what she read. She was adorable even when deep in thought. Beca went over and plopped down in the chair next to Chloe.  
"Hey," she said and the other woman looked at her in surprise.  
"Hey," she smiled brightly at the freshman.  
"I thought you might be hungry," Beca said, looking left and right and then placing a bag on the table.  
"A sub?" Chloe picked up the bag and looked inside. "What did you get me?" she asked excitedly.  
"Chicken breast."  
"Hmmm, my favorite." She leaned forward and gave Beca a small kiss in thanks. "How did you know that?"  
"I figured, you like chicks and breasts... the rest was easy."  
"Haha," Chloe made but then chuckled despite herself. This time her hand caught onto the younger woman's shirt and pulled her closer. They kissed, then again and again.  
Someone clearing their throat beside them made them both look up. It was someone Beca would had rather not seen here at the moment: Marc.  
"Marc, hey," Chloe said.  
"Hey, Chlo," he said and put a hand on the back of Chloe's char. She took it and smiled up at him.  
"Have you two met? Beca, Marc. Marc, this is Beca. She's an a cappella, too."  
"Yeah, I think I've seen you on initiation night," he said and she nodded.  
"Right."  
"Can I talk to you for a minute, Chlo?" He asked the redhead.  
"Yeah, sure, if it's just a minute," she leaned over to Beca as she got up and whispered into her ear: "Don't touch my sandwich, I'll be right back." Beca smiled up at her but as she watched Marc leading Chloe through the glass doors into the library corridor her smile became a frown. She didn't like the look of this, he seemed to just drag her behind him without any regard where she wanted to go or how far she wanted to go with him. From the brunette's perspective, he seemed rather possessive. She couldn't understand what they were talking about and she didn't want to pry but she couldn't take her eyes off them either. Marc was saying something to Chloe and she looked at him questioningly. Then she shook her head and said something herself. He pulled her close, touched her face but she was still shaking her head. He tried to kiss her and Beca felt her stomach drop, but Chloe was pushing him away, not forcefully just enough so he couldn't just pull her in for a kiss. He seemed to succumb to her resistance and started talking again. Beca could see Chloe heave a sigh, she answered her friend but still kept him at a distance. When she finally pulled him to her she merely hugged him and then kissed him on the cheek. Chloe turned and came back to the doors that seperated the corridor and the reading room.   
"Chloe," Marc said as the redhead opened the door. She turned.  
"I'll see you tomorrow, Marc," she told him and resumed her way. He didn't look very happy about this but he turned and left.  
Chloe came back to the table Beca still sat at.  
"Is everything okay?" the freshman asked.  
"Yeah, sure. He's a little bit needy sometimes, that's all." Chloe answered and started unpacking her sandwich.  
"He's not jealous, is he?" The redhead shrugged while taking the first bite. "So, he is."  
"Beca, let's not talk about Marc, okay? And let's not talk about jealousy here," she advised and Beca took the hint.  
"Do you still have a lot of work to do?" Beca then asked and Chloe nodded.  
"But it can wait until tomorrow. Would you like to come over to my place and listen to some music, i.e. make out?" Chloe grinned and the brunette laughed.  
"Yeah, I would like that a lot. That is..."  
"What?"  
"You don't think what happened yesterday will happen again, do you?" Beca asked and saw Chloe stiffen. The redhead pushed the rest of her sandwich back into the bag. "I'm sorry, Chlo, I'm just..."  
"Worried, I know." Chloe interrupted her. "Listen, I know that was scary and kinda crazy. I... I'm not even sure what caused it but... I think it's gonna be okay. I really would like to spend some time with you tonight, no pressure, just... the two of us getting to know each other better. What do you say?" Beca smiled reassuringly.  
"I'd like that," she told the redhead. Then she pointed at the rest of the sandwich. "You still hungry?" Chloe shook her head.  
"Then that's mine," she grabbed the bag and dug into the food. Shortly after they left the library in the direction of the apartment building where Chloe lived.


	11. Chapter 11

They were lying on Chloe's bed, kissing.  
"You're good at this," the redhead murmured before she recaptured Beca's lips, once again going for light-heartedness rather than passion. Beca could tell that she was testing the water, that she was unsure of herself after what happened the last time. The freshman took her cue from that; no pressure, Chloe had said, just getting to know each other better. The problem was that getting to know Chloe like this was intoxicating and arousing and Beca really had to fight herself for control.  
That's why she pulled back after awhile, breathing heavily.  
"You're so easy, Mitchell," Chloe teased, grinning.  
"Yeah, I guess," Beca answered. She wasn't able to keep her hands off the redhead, her right hand having long before slipped under Chloe's top and carressing heated skin there. "Tell me something."  
"Something, what?" Chloe asked when Beca didn't elaborate.  
"Doesn't matter, something about yourself - or tell me about the Bellas," the freshman said.  
"You want to know about the Bellas?" Beca simply nodded. "Well, I... I joined the Bellas my first year at Barden, same as Aubrey. The group was certainly different then, not better or worse, simply different. Aubrey has a little problem seeing this... I don't think we should be doing the same routine as before but... she's the captain," Chloe sighed.  
"And she doesn't like to share responsibility? What's up with that?"  
"Have you seen the video from the last ICCA's finals?" the redhead asked, lifting a copper eyebrow.  
"Is there a person on campus who hasn't? I mean it was... epic, the most strategic vomiting I've ever seen. Someone commented that she puked directly on the judges, is that true?" Beca asked animatedly but she could see by Chloe's face that the topic shouldn't warrant so much enthusiasm. "Sorry."  
"It was hard for Aubrey and she's my best friend. And, no, the judges have much better seats. But... well, losing control like that, and especially, just before she took over as captain? It's hard enough for her not being able to... I mean..." Chloe stopped.  
"What is it?"  
"I shouldn't tell you this," the redhead said and shook her head. "I... I feel so bad for Aubrey, with her parents... they're hard on her, so, in consequence, she is even harder on herself. And most of the time, she is in knots and that... whenever she feels anxiety, her stomach is acting up."  
"That must be hard but it's not exactly an excuse for being a bitch all the time," the freshman gave back.  
"She's not a bitch, she's just wound up. You don't know Aubrey like I do."  
"And how well do you two know each other exactly?" Beca followed the instinct she had had before that Chloe wasn't telling her everything that was going on between her and her best friend. The redhead frowned.  
"We're best friends," Chloe answered but it wasn't as straight an answer as one might think, Beca could see in the clear blue eyes that there was more to this story.  
"I'm not accusing, Chloe. I just... Aubrey doesn't like me, I just thought that maybe you and her... that you were involved at some point and that she's jealous, maybe?"  
"I already told that she's not jealous, she's just overprotective," Chloe argued.  
"Still, there's something you're not telling me. What is it? You can tell me, I'm not going to tell anybody else, I promise," Beca coaxed but the redhead still frowned. "You two had sex," Beca surmised from the silence that followed.  
"Aubrey doesn't do sex," Chloe finally answered and the freshman's eyebrows shot skyward.  
"Doesn't do sex? What does that mean?"  
"What I said, Aubrey doesn't have sex. She's... abstinent, I guess you could call it," Chloe explained but could see that Beca still didn't quite comprehend the concept, even though she seemed to grasp the words.  
"As in... like completely... all the time?" Beca asked, thrown by this information.  
"She tried it... twice but... well, Aubrey's stomach's acting up whenever she feels anxious and intimacy makes her anxious."  
"Oh, my God, she threw up on them?" the freshman bursted out.  
"Shhh," Chloe scolded.  
"I thought she wasn't even here," Beca reminded Chloe.  
"That's no reason to yell. It's... she told me about the boy she's been with in high school. They were a couple, going steady, so, on prom night he rented a room in the hotel where they had their prom night - everything was fine until... it wasn't."  
"Wow... that must have been... wow... okay, I think I understand better now. I mean, if I wasn't getting any I would go completely bonkers. Considering, Aubrey shows a fair amount of self-restraint," Beca said.  
"It's not impossible to go without sex, Beca," the redhead told her.  
"No, I mean I know that... It's just that... having something like that hanging over you? Wait... you said there were two people she... oh, my God, she threw up on YOU?!" Beca stared at Chloe who nodded. She made a face that said it wasn't her favorite moment but she wasn't shaking herself in disgust - the way Beca was sure she herself would have done at the mere recollection if it had happened to her.  
"Aubrey and I... we grew very close during our second year. She knew that I liked girls and never had a problem with it. We started talking about all kinds of things and she finally told me about prom night. So, I wondered aloud if maybe it had more to do with him being a guy and maybe she liked girls - I mean I couldn't really understand how you could get so anxious from being with... I mean..." Chloe grew flustered when she realized that she had grown anxious herself, just the other night from being close to someone. She hadn't lost her lunch, fortunately, but she had lost control.  
"Hey, it's okay," Beca pulled her close. "I guess we all deal differently with... emotional stress. I'm sure you'll be fine, we'll be fine," the freshman tried to reassure Chloe.  
They lay quietly for a moment, Beca just carressing Chloe's hair, the redhead letting herself be held and holding on in turn.  
"I wasn't even aware..." Chloe said after awhile but let the sentence unfinished.  
"You don't know what triggers Aubrey's anxiety. It's probably not the same thing that triggers yours. Do you even know...?" Chloe shook her head too quickly and too vehemently. She was obviously not ready to talk about it yet. "It's okay," Beca reassured her.  
"We were talking about Bree... and I. Well, we just talked at first - about sex and attraction. And, I mean, it's not like I wasn't attracted to her, she's..."  
"That she is," Beca agreed before Chloe could even say it and the redhead giggled.  
"Have you just admitted to thinking Bree's hot?"  
"No!" the freshman said and Chloe's giggle became a laugh. She tickled Beca who squirmed at the teasing.  
"You did, you think Bree's sexy. Say it!"  
"Stop it! I will not say it, never," Beca laughed as Chloe continued to tickle her. "Stop it!"  
"Say it!"  
"Alright, alright..." Chloe ceased the tickling but left her hands at Beca's sides. "Aubrey is very good looking - but so not my type," she added smirking.  
"Because I am," the redhead said.  
"No, because I'm just not into tall, gorgeous blondes with killer legs. Don't interest me at all," Beca teased.  
"Yeah, right. I got your number, Mitchell. I will so blackmail you with this in the future," Chloe gave back playfully.  
"You certainly got my number, Beale," Beca said and leaned into Chloe for a kiss. The kissing became a makeout session became a grope-fest. They were pushing into each other, none of the two willing to hold back until a moan worked itself free from Chloe's throat and she stiffened a second later. Beca ceased her moviements, lifting her head to make eye-contact.  
"You okay?"  
"Yeah... I just... for a moment I thought I would... hyperventilate again," Chloe said blushing.  
"It's okay, you're not," Beca said and the redhead nodded. "You were pretty scared last night, weren't you?"  
"That has never happened before, I... I love sex, I love being intimate," Chloe said.  
"Well, maybe it's me," Beca said what only just occured to her.  
"No, it's... it's probably just stress. I mean, it's my last year, there's a lot of pressure, you know," Beca nodded but didn't quite buy Chloe's excuse.  
"Okay, you're alright, though, right?" The redhead smiled and nodded.  
"Yes, I'm good," she said and gave Beca a small kiss. "I'm sorry that I'm so wound up, I... I really like kissing you a lot, touching you. You're... very hard to resist."  
"You may stop resisting any time," the brunette gave back with a smirk. "But it's okay to take it slow, too," she added and Chloe nodded.  
"Yeah, I like that, too." Chloe agreed and they kissed again, slowly, deeply. They parted when they started to need air more than the delicious contact. They stayed close, just hugging and feeling each other for a moment.  
"So, what happened between you and Aubrey?" Beca asked after awhile to distract them both from emotions that seemed to lay just beneath the surface.  
"Well, as I said, at first we talked about it. Then, one evening, we were at this party... it was a pretty lame party and we left early. We had both been drinking and we went into Bree's room just to... talk or... whatever. So, we started talking again and then we started kissing... and so on," Chloe blushed a little.  
"And so on?"  
"Aubrey... is a pretty good kisser, I have to give her that. And the alcohol... had losened her up a little and... we were touching each other, undressing each other... but when I touched her... well, intimately..."  
"She lost her cookies," Beca surmised and Chloe nodded.  
"I mean, it wasn't that big a deal. Of course, it was... disgusting at the time but... I felt so bad for Bree. She was so embarrassed," Chloe shook her head over the memory. "And I wish... I wish it hadn't happened. For her, not for me. It's not about an orgasm, or about sex, it's about being intimate, about being able to touch someone and letting that person touch you. I know how that feels, it's amazing, it's... so important - and Aubrey can't have that," Chloe concluded, looking sad.  
Beca pulled her back into her arms, just holding her but not saying anything. She never would have thought that she would feel pity for the tall, arrogant blonde she met at the activities fair. She seemed so impeccable, so aloof. But it seemed that it was just part of an act. Aubrey was vulnerable and in her case it made her lonely, too.

When Beca woke the next morning, she was alone in bed. And for fact that the mattress on Chloe's side of the bed was already cold, she had been for awhile. Beca listened for noises in the apartment and heard someone clatter in the kitchen. She got up and slipped into her jeans, just in case it was Aubrey having breakfast. It wasn't, though. Chloe hummed a tune while she was busy making pancakes, and Beca had to smile at the domesticity of this strange... relationship they were beginning to have. It was weird, no one had ever made her breakfast before (except for her mom, of course); no one had ever hummed something under their breath after spending the evening cuddling and talking. It was certainly endearing, but also rather strange. Where was all this going? What did Chloe really want from her? Friends with benefits was obviously not working for them for some reason - but where would they end up? Was this a dead end? Or the way to something more, a future - however long a future could last in college?  
"Good morning," Beca said and roused Chloe out of the little song-and-dance-number she was doing while making breakfast.  
"Morning," she smiled and leaned over the counter where Beca was just sitting down. She smacked her on the lips then put a coffee infront of her.  
"Coffee. The finest organic suspension ever devised... I beat the Borg with it," Beca grinned and took a well-deserved sip of the hot beverage. Chloe just looked at her.  
"Do I wanna know?"  
"You're kidding me, right? Star Trek: Voyager? Captain Janeway?" the brunette sounded incredulous.  
"I never was much of a trekker but I guess, there's coffee in that nebula," Chloe grinned at her. Beca started laughing.  
"Oh, my God, you're a nerd. You... I... come here," she leaned over the counter like Chloe had done before and kissed the redhead. They necked for a moment before the smell of burning pancakes roused them and Chloe turned toward the stove.  
"Urgh, these we better not eat. Oh, here. Dig in, there'll be plenty more," she put a heated plate infront of Beca with a fair amount of pancakes.  
"How many people will be joining us for breakfast - all the acas from Barden, maybe?" the freshman teased. "Do you have syrup?"  
Chloe placed a bottle of it infront of her before bringing her attention back to the stove and more pancakes.  
"I went a little overboard... I've never made pancakes before. Are they any good?" She asked as she turned toward Beca who just happened to grimace at the taste of the pancake she was eating. "What? What's wrong with it?"  
"What did you put in them?" Beca asked cautiously.  
"What it says in this book," Chloe took a cook book from the counter and reread the instruction. "And I may have forgotton sugar," she then said. "Damn," she looked at Beca sheepishly while the brunette swallowed the piece of bitter pancake.  
"No matter. Let's see... yeah, I remember." The freshman hopped off her stool and came around the counter. She unlaced the apron from Chloe's hips and put it around herself. Then she started to make breakfast from her own recipe of pancakes, remembered from her job at a pancake house in her hometown when she was sixteen.  
Chloe tried to help and they made a mess of the kitchen but in the end they were eating breakfast together, laughing and chatting. If Beca had thought their budding relationship couldn't get any more domestic than having Chloe preparing breakfast for them, she had been wrong. And if she'd ever thought she would get away with not falling for the redhead, she had been even more wrong. There was no way she could deny that she had already fallen for Chloe, and when she left after they had cleaned the kitchen, she felt a lightness to her step and a heavyness to her heart that convinced her that this was the deepest she'd ever felt. She was in love - and no matter whether this was good or bad, she was certain it would last awhile.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger Warning: There's violence in the second part of this. It's not too bad but it's verbal (homophobe) and physical, so, I thought, I'd give a warning.

On her way back to campus, Beca once again walked into the park, climbed the tree and comfortably smoked herself into a stupor. At least, that had been her plan, and she had just settled down with her reefer when a blonde head appeared below her, climbing the same tree.  
"Erm, excuse me, could you...," she started saying but then the head lifted and Aubrey looked at her. She pulled herself up and settled a little above Beca, the brunete looking at her surprised. "Was there something you wanted, Aubrey?" she asked when the older woman didn't say anything but just settled more comfortably and looked up at the sky, lounging in the autumn sun that was still warming but growing colder this late in the season.  
Aubrey looked at her, then she poined at Beca's spliff:  
"Are you going to share that?" she asked and surprised Beca even more. The younger woman tentatively held out her smoke to the blonde who took it, put it to her mouth and took a deep lungful. She held it in for several seconds, then blowing it out through her nose. Beca stared at her, she never would have thought that the blonde smoked, even less smoked pot. "Gaping is not very attractive, Beca. Here you go," she gave the reefer back to the smaller woman.  
"I just... I didn't take you for a..."  
"A pothead?" Aubrey simply asked and Beca made a face.  
"Whatever," she said and took another pull of her smoke.  
"You need to learn to be less sensitive about these things. Believe me, I've been called worse back in the days."  
"So, you actually were a pothead?" Aubrey smiled.  
"I had kind of a wild phase growing up," she said and accepted the spliff back. She kept it awhile, smoking it down to a stub. "Man, I forgot how this could feel," she admitted.  
"So, you smoked pot and you... what, raided your daddy's liquor cabinet?" Beca took a guess at Aubrey's 'wild phase.'  
"And totalled my mom's car and partied hard, did some hard drugs, too. We are not all what we seem, Beca," the blonde told the freshman.  
"Still, you think you got me all figures out, right?"  
"Been there, done that," Aubrey said. Beca smiled, she took another reefer from her pocket. She had prepared two before Aubrey had joined her and she was glad she did. She lit up and took a deep pull before handing the blonde the smoke.  
"I never did half of what you did, so, maybe you should come off your high-horse?"  
"This is not about drugs, Beca, it never was. I just don't want you to hurt my best friend," Aubrey gave back. She inhaled once before she gave the smoke back to Beca. "And that's enough for me, don't wanna go picking up old habits."  
"Why would you think I'd hurt Chloe?" Beca asked.  
"You looked like a player to me," the blonde shrugged.  
"I'm not a player, I'm usually the one being played actually."  
Silence followed this. Aubrey looked up into the sky. She felt relaxed, she felt good. But this relaxed state also reminded her of things she'd rather not be thinking of. She looked at Beca.  
"Chloe isn't a player, either. She likes people but you'll never find her dishonest or disloyal."  
"I already know that, so, what's the deal of this... reconnaissance?" Aubrey laughed at the word but sobered before she answered:  
"Chloe is... she's been hurt. Badly."  
"Okay," Beca slowly said. "Is that all, or are gonna tell me the story?" Aubrey sighed.  
"Our former captain, Alice... well, she wasn't captain when we started, she was one of the group but she was special. She could be quite charming, when she wanted something and from the beginning she wanted Chloe. Of course, she would never admit to being into women, she played the field. Neither Chloe nor I knew that when we became Bellas. Chloe fell for her - she wasn't her first but I think it was the first time she actually fell in love with a woman. It was a disaster, and it didn't end... soon enough. For almost a year, Alice would string Chloe along, fucking guys left and right. And she would make fun of Chloe for being so enamored with her... I finally caught on to her game. I talked to Chloe but she wouldn't believe me until one night - it was a party at the BTM-house... it was an ugly scene. Luckily, it wasn't a very public scene, just Chloe and Alice, me and... Bumper."  
"Bumper? The asshole-Treble-captain?" Aubrey nodded.  
"The same. He and Alice were at it and Chloe walked in on them. I just came down the hall when the shouting began and... well, I send some people who were lurking nearby on their way... still, it was bad. I'm pretty sure, Alice had hoped that Chloe and I would leave the Bellas after it - she couldn't get rid of us, she was afraid one of us would tell that she was into girls - but we stayed on. Chloe finally got over Alice... that day of the finals - before I... lost it - she took a box of souvenirs with her... she was late... I think she burned them or something. Chloe has kind of a dramatic streak, especially when it comes to love... or romance, if you will," the blonde ended her story.  
"Well, that... sucks but... where does that leave me? I'm not like Alice and Chloe isn't in love with me," Beca said. Aubrey looked at her for a long while.  
"You haven't had sex with her yet, have you?" the blonde then asked.  
"I'm pretty sure that's none of your business," Beca gave back indignantly.  
"Okay, then let me tell you something else: Chloe is a very touchy-feely person. I know..." she held up a hand to ward off anything Beca might want to say to this. "...you know that already but I don't think you know what that means. As long as I know Chloe she hasn't gone longer than four days without sex. I could actually set my clock to it. She's not exactly addicted to sex but... she sure enjoys it. How long have you been... fooling around now?" Beca thought about it then said:  
"Four days." Aubrey nodded.  
"And I know that she hasn't been with Marc for pretty much a week now."  
Another silence followed. The two women looked at each other.  
"So, what you're saying is... that Chloe hasn't had sex in almost a week."  
"Yes."  
"I've had longer droughts, so, what's the big deal?" Beca shrugged her shoulder and Aubrey rolled her eyes.  
"Chloe isn't just in it for the sex with you, moron! She has feelings for you. That's why she's had a panic attack the other night, that's why she takes it slow. She's afraid of falling in love with you - like she fell in love with Alice," the blonde spelled it out. Beca simply looked at her for a long while.  
"Did she tell you that?"  
"No, I don't think she's been ready to admit it to herself yet... but it's happening," Aubrey said. She pierced the yonger woman with her blue-grey eyes, it was an intense stare and the brunette squirmed a little under it. She became aware that her smoke had gone out and relit it before taking another deep pull. "Don't tell me you don't have feelings for her because they're all over your face whenever you're with her."  
"I'm not saying I don't have feelings for her... she's... but... I don't even know what's happening, okay? At one moment, she's pulling me toward her, the next she's pushing me away. And then there's Marc..."  
"Marc!" Aubrey scoffed. "Talking of a douchebag. Don't pay him any mind - he's gonna blow a casket when Chloe finally breaks up with him but she's not gonna let him get away with it. She can handle him."  
"Yeah, but she hasn't exactly broken up with him yet, has she? He came by the library yesterday when we were... well, we were kissing and he wasn't happy about that - at all."  
Aubrey scoffed again:  
"I bet. Chloe has kept him around far too long... he's gotten possessive of her. They had spent a lot of time together before you came along..."  
"And pissed on his parade," Beca said and Aubrey laughed.  
"That you did... and it's not that I like you any better than him, you know... just... I want Chloe to be happy and I think she'e happy when she's with you. Marc never had that kind of power, so..."  
"So, you're just gonna go along with this until I break Chloe's heart?"  
"Or she breaks your," Aubrey reminded. Beca nodded.  
"Yeah," she said thoughtfully. Aubrey picked this moment to get off up her perch and start climbing down some branches.  
"Are you gonna jump?" Beca asked.  
"Yeah, so?"  
"Be careful, I nealy crushed a pomeranian the other day," Aubrey rolled her eyes at the freshman and then very gracefully jumped down the tree. There was no dog, no cat, not even a squirrel roused by her actions.  
"Of course, nobody's as big a klutz as I am," Beca groused.  
"Hey," Aubrey called from beneath her and the brunette looked down.  
"This conversation never happened," she told Beca.  
"This isn't a spy novel, Aub, get it together, will you?"  
"Call me Aub again and you'll watch me pull a James Bond on you as I very slowly kill you," Aubrey answered. Beca saluted her military-fashion and then watched the blonde walk away. The freshman shook her head over Chloe's best friend. She was quite different from what Beca had imagined her to be. But if Chloe thought that her friend wasn't a bitch, she was wrong.

Beca had hoped she could grab a shower and a nap before heading out to meet the High Notes - she was determined now to whip those dorks into an aca-awesome a cappella-group - but when she entered her dorm-room, there was somebody sitting on her bed. Beca looked to Kimmy Jin who turned from her laptop to look at her, her face not anymore pleased than usual to see her but her eyes conveying the message that she was even more annoyed at her.  
"Your friend has been waiting for you for over an hour," she told Beca.  
"Marc, hey. What're you doing here?"  
"Just visiting with a 'friend,'" he answered and looked at her intently.  
"How nice," Beca remarked sarcastically. "You wanna talk about something?" she asked, holding her place near the closed door, not sitting down. She wanted to be ready when he left again and she hoped that it would be soon. But before he could answer, Kimmy Jin's phone buzzed, rousing them both out of their intense eye-contact. The Asian-American answered her phone and spoke in half-English, half-Korean to someone. She actually smiled and Beca was as always surprised that her face could transform itself from the stoic mask she invariably showed Beca. It was baffling.  
"I'll be right out," Kimmy Jin said and disconnected the call. Her face took on her normal expression (or at least the expression she normally wore in the company of her freaky roommate) and she glared at both Beca and Marc before she slipped into her shoes, picked up her backpack and walked to the door. She looked at Beca and the brunette opened the door for her.  
"I'll be back later. Make sure he's gone by then," she told her roommate and Beca actually had to grin a little at Marc's displeased facial-expression.  
"Oh, he'll be gone. Don't worry," she answered.  
"I'm not worried," came the reply before Kimmy Jin walked off down the corridor.  
"And I thoght my first year-roommate was obnoxious," Marc commented.  
"Kimmy Jin is not obnoxious, she just doesn't like white people - and it's worse when you're a guy," Beca told him. He raised an eyebrow.  
"Isn't that racism?"  
"No, it's common sense. So, what did you want, Marc?" Beca turned the conversation back to where they had been interrupted.  
"Talk about Chloe, what else?"  
"Hm, what about her?" Beca leaned against the closet she shared with Kimmy Jin, crossing her arms over her chest.  
"You were with her last night?"  
"None of your business," she gave back and he clamped his teeth together.  
"Look, I'm trying to work this out, okay? I mean... Chloe's great, she is, but she doesn't always know what she wants - or needs..."  
"And you do?" Beca interrupted him.  
"Well, I've known her for some time, intimately, in case she hasn't told you," he gave back angrily.  
"She told me," she said and looked at him. She had to agree with Aubrey, Marc was indeed possessive, not to forget jealous, self-important, and an ass.  
"So..."  
"So, I know," Beca said.  
"And you don't mind? I don't buy that, not for a second," he told her.  
"Why, because you're jealous, everybody else has to be, too?"  
"I'm not jealous of a little dyke. I don't have to be because... Chloe likes being with me. She likes to be fucked by a real guy," he smiled at her but she didn't buy it. He wouldn't be here if he was so sure of her affection, he wouldn't have been at the library last night either.  
"Yeah, but it wasn't the 'real guy' she wanted last night, buddy," she gave back and his smile died on his lips. "It was the real little dyke."  
"If you think this thing between you two will last beyond... say a month, you're wrong. It never does. Chloe likes cock too much."  
"And I don't like it at all, so, if you're pushing it into my face one more time, I'm gonna ask you to leave. You wanna talk about Chloe, what she feels for you and doesn't feel for me, fine, but don't go all phallic imagery on me because I had a whole lotta pancakes this morning and I could lose them any time now," Beca told Marc and he made a face.  
"Pancakes?"  
"Courtesy of a cute little redhead we both know." Marc stared at her. "What, she never made breakfast for you?" Beca raised a challenging eyebrow at the young man sitting on her bed. "Then maybe your relationship isn't all that special."  
"Shut up," he bellowed at her.  
"You shut up," she told him. "And why don't you leave, already? You see, there's nothing here for you to gain. I'm not ending it with Chloe as long as she wants me close. You can't make me because it's not your decision."  
"Well, I could make it my decision," he got up off the bed and came over to Beca. He placed himself close before her, almost touching her.  
"Are you threatening me, you loser?" She yelled at him and then pushed him back onto the bed. "Are you?" She balled her hands to fists, ready to strike if he should lay as much as a little finger on her but he didn't. He laughed it off.  
"Easy, tiger, no need to get all scared. I was just playing with you," he said but there was a vicious gleam in his eye.  
"I'm not scared of scum-bags like you," she told him. "I've decked bigger men than you!"  
"Oh, yeah, really?" He got up off the bed in one swift movement and grabbed her arms. He pushed her back into the closet, she tried to kick him but he evaded her legs. That was when the door opened and Kimmy Jin was standing there. She looked at the situation, then she lifted her handbag and hit Marc over the head.  
"WHAT THE FUCK," he yelled.  
"Get off her, scum," she yelled back and hit him again. Beca used the distraction and threw her head forward, right into his nose. She could hear and feel it crunching and then blood splurted from it. Marc screamed and let go of her arms, both his hands lifting to his face.  
"Goggameeh. Yu mbruk mangh nosh," he said as the girls rushed him out of the door together, closing it on him spluttering expletatives and blood.  
"What the hell happened? Are you alright? I wouldn't have left you if I had know that he was going to hurt you? Are you alright?" It was more than Kimmy Jin had talked to her in the months they had yet lived together.  
"Yeah, I'm alright... he... we had an argument and he..."  
"You're going to report him, right? I'll come with you. I'll tell them that he attacked you," she assured Beca and the brunette had to smile.  
"No, it's okay. He won't try it again," she told Kimmy Jin who looked at her incredulously, then angry. Then she rolled her eyes at Beca.  
"White girls are stupid as shit," she said. She went to her desk and picked up her phone which she had forgotten earlier and for which she had come back. "If you want to report him, I'll come with you. If you don't... well, I can't help you, if you don't hellp yourself," the Asian-American told her.  
"Thanks for your help, Kimmy Jin," Beca quickly said before her roommate left again. She thought she could hear a grumbled 'Whatever," but that was all the acknowledgement she got.


	13. Chapter 13

Beca sat on her bed looking at the faded red stain on the carpet. She had scrubbed at it for about 15 minutes but not all of Marc's blood had come out of the fibers - it was horrifying the amount of blood he had lost, there had been drops of it on almost every surface. She hoped she had caught them all, she didn't even want to think about Kimmy Jin's look should she come across anything she had missed. It was bad enough that the stain on the carpet would always remind them both of this day - the day Kimmy Jin had to come to Beca's rescue. It was so weird.  
And it wasn't that Beca wasn't grateful, she was. Her roommate had reacted in a split second, not thinking that they didn't like each other, not saying: that's your mess and you have to deal with it. She had behaved courageously and selflessly. And then she had offered Beca even more help with the aftermath. But how could the brunette accept that? How could she drag Kimmy Jin into this mess that would involve her telling Chloe that she broke Marc's nose, admitting having been weak for a moment and having Marc overpower her, telling people of her sort-of-relationship with Chloe? And then there was her dad. If she went to the university authorities, he would be the first to get notified. His daughter had been attacked! Oh, my God! Did he try to rape her? Did he want money? No, dad, he was just pissed because he thinks I'm sleeping with his quasi-girlfriend! Kazoom! All would go to hell!  
Dammit all!  
Beca leaned back onto her bed, hugging a small pillow to her chest. She felt empty but emotional, like she could cry at any moment. But she didn't want to cry, shouldn't cry over something as banal as a guy losing his temper on her. But she felt... weak and vulnerable. He shouldn't have gotten the upper hand, she shouldn't have let him! How much was she worth as a human being if someone could just barge in here and press her to her closet, take total control of her? Anybody could just come in and overpower her that way!  
"Oh God!" and then the tears fell and she couldn't stop them. She rubbed at her face, her eyes but they just wouldn't stop. And then her phone buzzed. Was it her dad? Had Marc maybe gone to the campus police and told them that she broke his nose? Had they told her dad? But it wasn't her dad, it was Chloe and the queasy feeling in her stomach intensified.  
She answered the call after breathing deeply a couple of times. The call had stopped her tears but she didn't want to sound like she had been crying.  
"Yeah," she practically bellowed into the phone and flinched at her own voice.  
"Beca?"  
"Yeah, it's me," she said, closing her eyes against the emotions that threatened to surface at hearing Chloe say her name.  
"Marc just... well, he didn't call but a nurse... I just saw him and he said you broke his nose? Is that true?"  
'Scumbag!' Beca thought.  
"That's true," she simply said.  
"Why... why did you do that? I mean... did he do anything, did he threaten you?" Beca smiled at Chloe's words. The redhead was certainly no dummy, she knew Marc and she knew Beca and she could obviously sum this knowledge up to something close to the truth.   
"He... came here and we talked but he got angry pretty quick and... well, he shoved me against the closet and I didn't know what else to do. So, I headbutted him into the nose."  
"Oh, God, Beca, I'm so sorry, sweety. I... Did he hurt you?" Chloe sounded agitated but the thing that really got to Beca was the term of endearment. 'Sweety?' Could she get any more precious and sweet herself?  
"I'm okay. It felt pretty weird when my head collided with his nose... the crunching and all... slight headache but... yeah, I'm good."  
"Should I come over?" Beca had to smile at this. Had she actually feared that Chloe would blame her?  
"I wanted to head out to the commons, meet the Notes... I want to talk to them about us singing... you know, like you guys. Competing," she told the redhead.  
"Really? That's... that's great. I mean, it'll be... hard work motivating them but I'm sure if anyone can do it, it's you," she said and already sounded so enthusiastic that Beca thought she might actually make this happen.  
"Thanks, I hope it'll work. Erm.... how is Marc? I mean, the nose IS broken, right?" Chloe sighed.  
"Yeah, it is. He's angry at you... he only told me what you did, not what he did... I thought there was something else going on. I mean, I knew you wouldn't just walk up to him and break his nose. That's not like you and, well, he is about twice your size, so..."  
"Twice my size? I'll have to tell you that I'm pretty hefty for my size. I can defend myself!" Beca told her friend.  
"So it seems and I'm glad you can, sweety," Chloe gave back and they fell silence for a moment, both contemplating the changes that were happening between them, the feelings they had but were too shy to talk to each other about yet.  
"Well, I guess, I'll let you go then. Will I see you later today?"  
"I thought you had Bellas practice?"  
"Maybe you can come get me after? We could... well, it'll be late and I'll be tired but... maybe... you can spent the night again?" Beca smiled and she thought she could hear the same from Chloe.  
"I guess I could," she answered the question tentatively.  
"I just wanna make sure that you're okay, you know, your head and all. I probably couldn't sleep if I didn't know that you were okay," Chloe told her and Beca had to chuckle.  
"Okay, then I'll meet you at your practice hall at 11?"  
"It'll probably be closer to midnight. Aubrey has quite a couple of things on the agenda for today, so..."  
"Alright, I'll be there at 20 to midnight," Beca promised nonchalantly.  
"Great. I'm looking forward to seeing you," Chloe said softly.  
"Me too," Beca gave back in the same tone of voice. Another silence spread between them, it wasn't uncomfortable, rather it was very comfortable.  
"Bye, sweety," Chloe then said very deliberately.  
"Bye, Chlo," Beca answered and then they both disconnected the call.

She made her way over to her fellow acas who were by now sitting on benches and not lying on the lawn anymore. It had gotten colder and the High Notes weren't as unfeeling as many thought they were. Cold affected them and Beca could relate to that, she had pulled out her favorite parka today because she needed its warmth.  
"Man, what's up, what's up. But you don't have to tell us, we already know," Louis called out when he saw her coming and she looked at him questioningly.  
"What're you talking about, dude?"  
"He's talking about you headbutting that douche Marc Lambert, of course," Nadine informed Beca with a proud smile and stood up to hug her tightly.   
"How do you guys know about this?" The freshman asked surprised.  
"Louis has a girl working as a nurse and he was resting in the bed next to the man Marc when your girl ginger showed up and he told her of your naughties," Potter chimed up. It was the most she had ever heard him speak and he was grinning proudly at her.  
"I... it wasn't my fault, he... grabbed me and I couldn't free my hands, so, I had to use my head," Beca defended her actions although none of her friends seemed to condemn her for what she had done.  
"And because you're such a short one you only reached his nose," Louis snickered. "That must have been a mess. He was still bleeding when he came into the emergency station."  
"It was," Beca confirmed. "Why were you there? Are you sick?"  
"No, I sometimes get a little dizzy and go over there to rest a little. One of the nurses, Kendra, she's... a friend," he said and grinned rakishly.  
"A friend, huh?" They all started teasing Louis at this point and Beca sat down next to Darnell who hadn't said anything yet but was nodding at her in acknowledgement.  
"You did good, young padawan," he said when she kept looking at him and she had to laugh.  
"Thank you, master," she answered and they smiled at each other. "Is Louis getting those dizzy-spells often?" She then asked, looking behind her at the blond young man sitting on a wall next to Potter and laughing with the other Notes.  
"Sometimes. I think he has low bloodsugar. Of course, he's not eating right, most of the time he can't even remember if he has eaten, so...." It didn't seem to bother Darnell that his friend's habit was messing with his health. Not that it was Beca's place to judge or interfere. Louis was an adult and he had obviously survived so far without her telling him what to do or what not to do.  
"So, if he's not feeling alright we just give him some candy and he'll be alright?" She asked.  
"He always has some chocolate bars and juice in his backpack, so..." Beca nodded. She turned toward the others when Potter tipped her on the shoulder, handing her a reefer. "Thanks." Beca took a deep drag of the spliff and wanted to give it to Darnell but the tall young man shook his head. She looked at him in surprise but caught herself after a moment and handed the smoke to Nadine on her other side.  
For a while they just sat, chatting amiably. Then Louis started clacking his tongue to a beat only he could hear. Lisa joined him, giving the beat a melody and then Nadine started singing. She was a clear soprano. Beca didn't know the song, for all she knew, they could have just made it up as they went but it really sounded beautiful. Potter joined the beat and then Darnell started singing New York, New York over Nadine's song. It was the most amazing thing Beca had ever heard. When they ended they applauded themselves and laughed before sending another reefer around.  
"That was incredible," Beca said.  
"It was pretty good," Darnell acknowledged grinning at the others.  
"He's the man, the man he is," Louis said and patted Darnell's shoulders. "He's the best singer in all of Barden. Bumper is a joke compared."  
"So I hear," Beca confirmed. "So, why aren't we competing with the rest of the best? I mean, it's all here, in our voices. We licked them at the riff-off."  
The tall dark-skinned man beside her looked at her for a long moment, then he stared forward without answering. Beca looked behind her at the other members of their a cappella group. Louis rolled his eyes at her, Potter grinned sheepishly, the girls looked at each other rather than her and Brick just squinted against the smoke he was blowing into the air. Beca turned back to Darnell and he sighed.  
"We don't do that shit. We're no like them... we save our energy for something more worthwhile," he said and reached his hand out toward Brick who handed him the reefer. "This," he then said and took a deep pull of the smoke.  
"Bullshit," Beca said, not just because she didn't believe him but because she thought he didn't believe it either.  
"Ho ho," Louis made behind her and looked at Darnell expectantly. They all did.  
"Bullshit or no, we're not competing. We're good, yes, but we're good at our own pace. We're good because we don't have to work so hard. These guys, the Trebles, the Bellas, even the Harmonics - they work hard every day so that people may like them when they jump around like clowns and sing some Rihanna or Katy Perry. That's the bullshit, Becs. The High Notes are not like that. There's no pressure here - because we don't need any more pressure in our lives... pressure is for when we go home for the holidays, when our parents ask us about what we've accomplished, when SOCIETY asks us what we've accomplished. I don't wanna accomplish anything... I wanna live my life. The High Notes are for living your life the way you want it - not your dad, or your mom or your therapist or SOCIETY. That's why we're not competing. You wanna compete, go join the Bellas or the Harmonics," he told her and looked at her challengingly.  
Beca looked back at Darnell, thinking about what he said. She nodded.  
"Alright, but why bother then with things like the riff-off?" She then gave back.  
"Because we're still a Barden club and as that we have to be at events like the audition, or hood night, the riff-off... and we like to be there, it's usually a cool scene when the Trebles got over themselves, and the Bellas had a little too much to drink," he smirked. The other guys snickered, and even Lisa looked like she might have been the benefactor of an inebriated Bella once.  
"I get that, okay. Just... couldn't we... like... sing more?" Beca got off her chest and it figuratively burst out of her. Her friends laughed, Darnell included.  
"If you wanna sing, Beca, sing. We're all here. If you feel like bursting into song, you're very welcome to do it, just like we did a minute ago. We'll back you up - if we know the song, and usually at least one or two do. We love music, all of us. That doesn't mean we have to be professional at it, not even on a collegiate competition level. kay?" Beca nodded.  
"Yeah, sure. What was that you were singing, Nade - I didn't know that song," she then asked the blonde beside her.  
"It was Tori Amos. You don't know her at all?"  
"I think I've heard the name but... no..." Darnell smiled.  
"Just because she hasn't heard any of hers doesn't mean she's not good, D," Nadine told the High Notes captain.  
"Whatever," he said but kept on smiling.  
"So, you counter a song about... lost love, was it?... with a song about making it in New York? Well, Darnell, it's a good thing you're not ambitious," she said grinning.  
"Touché," he gave back and laughed a deep heart-warming laugh. Beca leaned back in her seat, letting her head loll around until she had looked at all the Notes. They all seemed very content to her.  
"You're all really good singers," she told them.  
"We're acas, Becs, what else did you expect?" Potter asked her and she shrugged her shoulders.  
"You know what, little one?" Darnell addressed her and she turned toward him. "I'm graduating this year. If you want, you can try and make them into one of those competing synchonized-dancing clown groups - it's no skin off my nose if you want to try. But until then... we're just doing our thing, okay?" Beca smiled.  
"We'll see," she challenged him and he laughed again.  
"You're a tough nugget, little one," he said.  
"The toughest," she gave back.


	14. Chapter 14

Beca was comfortably huddled into her parka but the evening grew insistently colder and she stomped her feet. She had been waiting for twenty minutes now but Aubrey's grating voice could still be heard from inside the auditorium, yelling orders at her fellow Bellas on lifting arms, shaking shoulders or hips. Beca couldn't keep a slight smirk from her face when she remembered Darnell calling the other acas 'synchronized-dancing clown groups.' He wasn't all that wrong, apparently. Maybe it wasn't the worst thing in the world being part of the High Notes - though she already had suspected as much. They were a really cool gang when you got to know them a little better, and now that she was hanging around, they didn't just share their weed with her.   
"Okay, that's all for today," Beca finally heard Aubrey shout out and then a slightly more muffled:  
"Whooohooo," and she would almost swear it came from Amy. She had met the Tasmanian a couple of times on campus by now and they always talked a little. Amy was also always around when there were free drinks and some man candy to be had and Beca had a ball just watching her. So, this time when the first Bellas exited the practice hall, Beca didn't retreat into the shadows but just stood by the door smiling at the group of four women, one of them Amy.  
"Hey, what's up, what's up, DJ Beca? What brings you to these - admittedly exhausting - shores after midnight?" Beca grinned and blushed only a little which couldn't be seen in the dim light, for sure.  
"Hey, Fat Amy. I'm just waiting for someone," she said and pointed through the open door inside the auditorium.  
"Waiting for someone?" Amy looked around herself and found Cynthia Rose who raised an eyebrow. "Please tell me it's Aubrey, that would be so...," but Amy stopped talking when all the other Bellas exited the building, Aubrey among them. She smiled an all-teeth smile at her captain who looked suspiciously from Amy to Beca.  
"Oh, hi, Beca," she then said cooly before she locked the door to the practice hall.  
"Hey," Chloe addressed the small brunette who had bit her lip to keep from laughing at Amy's wide grin.  
"Hey, yourself," she smiled at Chloe easily when the redhead was taking her hands.  
"Whoomp, there it is," came from Amy and Aubrey turned toward her, her eyes slits. "Or not... not that it matters, let's all head out now, shall we? Yes, yes." She hooked her arm with Lilly's not even realizing it was the slender Asian-American but trying to pull her away from her angry captain.  
"It's okay, Amy. It's not such a big deal, I like girls and boys," Chloe laughed at the antics of the Tasmanian who stopped her progress and looked at the redhead wide-eyed.  
"A real-life bisexual - and I don't even have my camera on me, damn," she murmured and everybody laughed, even Aubrey.  
"Too bad because you're missing this then," Chloe stated, turning toward Beca and starting to kiss her. There were whoops and catcalls but Beca could swear she didn't even hear them over the thumping of her heart.  
"I'll be damned," Cynthia Rose breathed and there were some chuckles heard around the group.  
"Well, since everybody's come out now, how about we move this all to our respective homes? It's too cold to stand here all night," Aubrey roused them all and Beca could hear Amy mumbling:  
"Party-pooper," before the blonde waved at Beca and Chloe and joined Lilly, Ashley and Cynthia Rose on their way to the bus stop.  
"Are you coming with, or do you have other plans, Chlo?" Aubrey asked her best friend as the other Bellas were walking away, either to their cars, their dorms or the bus stop.  
"Erm, I actually thought we could all drive over to our place?" the redhead asked hopefully. She turned her beseeching blue eyes on her best friend and Aubrey rolled her own eyes, seemingly unnerved. Beca wasn't sure whether it was over her friend or over herself for being unable to resist her.  
"Alright, whatever, but no more smoking in the apartment. Is that clear?" She addressed Beca and the younger woman gave a military salute. "I won't even start on what all was wrong with that salute," Aubrey groused and walked off ot her car. Chloe pulled Beca with her and they followed the tall blonde to her beamer.

Beca slipped onto the backseat of Aubrey's car, a little disappointed when Chloe didn't follow but instead pushed her seat back to sit in it. She turned and smiled at Beca who scooted to the middle of the backseat and leaned forward between the two front seats.  
"Say, guys, I wanted to ask you something," she started a conversation. Aubrey turned to her.  
"Would you please fasten your seatbelt," she said to the small brunette.  
"Excuse me?" Beca asked, not thrilled at the tone or the request. Chloe giggled.  
"Just do it, sweety. Aubrey won't drive if you don't, trust me," the redhead patted Beca's knee affectionately and the freshman did as she was told. Aubrey started the car the second the seatbelt clicked into place. Beca bit back on a sarcastic grin, thinking about what Darnell had called her - tough nugget - and thinking that Aubrey was quite the ball-buster.  
"What did you wanna talk about," Chloe asked her.  
"Oh, right. Since you guys have been acas since the first year... was it always like it is now, I mean with the Trebles being the superstars, you guys in second, the Harmonics gay and the High Notes, well, high?"  
"Aca-scuse me?" Aubrey snapped, glaring at Beca via rareview mirror.  
"I mean..." Beca stammered but didn't know what she had said that warranted Aubrey's sharpness. Chloe laughed again.  
"Oh, come on, Bree. We are second and there's nothing wrong with that as long as you're dedicated at what you're doing," she soothed over Beca's words.  
"Right, I mean, you guys are great... not that I've seen you but... great," Beca confirmed.  
Aubrey sighed dramatically and Beca wondered where the relaxed girl had gone who had shared a smoke with her only this morning.  
"It was different when we started, actually. The High Notes, yes, your illegal-substance-abuser-friends, were the best, mostly because of Darnell. He could sing like a God," Aubrey said.  
"He still can," Beca piped up but another glare from the rearview mirror had her stop right there.  
"Not like he used to, he was the best, and that made the High Notes the best. They have been good before but with Darnell they just blew everyone away. The Harmonics were also very good, then there were the Bellas and the Trebles were... a bunch of boys beatboxing between classes, mainly." She shared a smile with Chloe who nodded.  
"Then in our second year it all changed. Things were happening. One was that Darnell's brother died. He was killed in Afghanistan, and Darnell just... lost it, mostly. He..." Aubrey shook her head and stopped talking.  
"His brother had been at Barden, too. And he had been a High Note... they were very close and Darnell just couldn't get over his death, or at least that's what everybody's saying. Well, he got into drugs, not just weed... hard stuff but he... I guess you could say he fought his way back and since then he's only done dope," Chloe pitched in.  
"It's a shame with Darnell, he was so... open, friendly. He was friends with pretty much all the acas, then he fell and no one could help him back up, though some of us tried," Aubrey took over again and Beca could tell that she had been one of those who had tried and she was pretty sure, Chloe had probably tried to help, too. She was that kind of person. "Anyway. That second year, Bumper got it into his head to build the Trebles from sketch. He really got into it and as the High Notes fell, the Trebles rose. With the Harmonics it was merely that some great voices graduated and they have never found anyone to replace them, so... that's pretty much aca-history of the last three years," the blonde finally ended.  
"Why are you interested in it? Is this about your idea with the High Notes?" Chloe perked up and Beca grinned.  
"Kind of. I tried talking to Darnell and the others but D pretty much shot me down. I mean... it's not like he doesn't have a point - I mean I myself thought that this whole aca-thing was pretty lame," Beca said and heard Aubrey huff but the blonde didn't say anything. "But I enjoyed the riff-off. It would be so cool if we could do something fresh, something new. I love mixing music and with the voices those High Notes have... it's a wide range with Darnell's beautiful baritone and Nade's clear soprano but... Darnell wants his peace. He doesn't want to compete. It's probably a good thing he's graduating after this year."  
"I wouldn't bet on it, though," Aubrey said.  
"What do you mean?"  
"He's been at Barden for... six years now. I'm not sure he will ever graduate. They'll probably have to ask him to leave at some point but as long as his parents pay...," the blonde answered. That was when she pulled into a parking lot close to their apartment building. She turned off the ignition and turned to Beca on the backseat. "When you say you're mixing music, what exactly do you mean? Professionally?"  
"I've had a few DJ-gigs, yeah. I'd say semi-professional so far but I love doing it and people like it, so...," Beca answered tentatively. She didn't know where Aubrey was going with this.  
"Any chance I could listen to some of yours?" the blonde then asked albeit rather abruptly. Beca didn't know what to make of this behavior.  
"Erm, sure... if you want I could load some onto your ipod and..." Aubrey's features darkened as if Beca had made her an indecent offer.  
"Oh-oh," Chloe said. "It's okay, Bree, nobody's touching your ipod or any of your playlists." She turned toward Beca and shook her head.  
"Of course not," Beca confirmed and shook her head also. Aubrey unclasp her seatbelt and was about to get out of the car, once again sighing dramatically.  
"Just put some songs on a flash drive and I'll listen to them," she threw over her shoulder before exiting the car.  
Beca turned to Chloe and the redhead smiled at her. Still, Beca was a little confused.  
"Why does she want to listen to my stuff anyway? She acts like she's doing me a favor," she wondered aloud.  
Chloe got out of the car and pulled the seat up so that Beca could crawl out. They made their way to the apartment building, following Aubrey. Chloe linked arms with the small brunette and pulled her closer.  
"I think she's working on something for the Bellas. I think she finally figured out that our old routine isn't working anymore... maybe she just wants some new ideas. I hope you're good at this mixing-business because I'm dying to do something... cool and hip," Chloe whispered and Beca laughed lightly.  
"Cool and hip, eh?"  
"And maybe a little naughty, too," Chloe chuckled into Beca's ear sending a jolt of electricity down the younger woman's spine.


	15. Chapter 15

They entered Chloe's room after having wished Aubrey a good night. The Bellas captain has looked suspiciously at them.  
"Just put your ear plugs in, Bree," Chloe told her with a smirk and the blonde rolled her eyes before she went into her own room.  
Beca chuckled.  
"She's the most wired person I know. How can someone live that way?" she wondered aloud.  
"Bree's okay if you get to know her better. Being the Bellas captain is a lot of responsibility and she takes it seriously... she's a good person," Chloe told Beca.  
"I never doubted that. She must be special if you like her," the smaller woman slipped out of her jacket and put it over Chloe's desk chair. The redhead came over to her and lay her arms over her shoulders, linking hand behind Beca's neck. Beca's own hands slipped around Chloe's waiste and they stood close together, looking into each other's eyes.  
"You're so beautiful," Chloe said and Beca smiled a little shyly.  
"Nah, I'm just... presentable, is all."  
"Nonsense, you are very beautiful," Chloe insisted and kissed the brunette. Maybe it should have been just a kiss, something short, maybe even friendly. Beca had been on the fence of where this thing between her and the redhead was going, not sure Chloe wanted to pursue anything at all. But as their lips got reacquainted, it tasted more and more like pursue and like passion. Chloe let her tongue glide over Beca's lips, requesting entry which was granted very willingly. Their tongues collided in a fiery battle, thei bodies in need to touch until they finally started undressing each other.  
Beca wanted to be mindful, she didn't want Chloe to panic again and tried to look for signals. But Chloe was very sure of what she wanted, there was no hesitancy in the way she touched Beca, her hands lingered in relish not in insecurity. When they were both only in their underwear she pulled Beca to her.  
"You're gorgeous," she whispered into her ear as she made the freshman sit on her bed, straddling her. "I've been waiting too long for this," she told Beca and kissed her passionately.  
Beca felt such a rush of arousal and feelings running through her, she hardly knew how to hold on. She wanted all of this woman, not just her body, she wanted her love. She needed it. And she felt that it was there, fiercely guarded but eager to burst out. It was in the way Chloe looked at her, how she reverently carressed her body, how she smiled when she discovered freckles, a tattoo. And in her kiss. There was love in every kiss.  
Chloe pushed Beca onto her back, her mouth eagerly kissing and licking and sucking on her breasts until she felt the brunette lifting her hips against her own. Chloe made a purring sound and smiled down at Beca.  
"You want me? Say it," she asked of the younger woman.  
"I want you, baby, and I need you," Beca answered, her hands lovingly fingering the flimsy material of Chloe's panties. The redhead shivered at the intimate touch but lifted herself off Beca a moment later. The brunette grumbled in protest but only until she saw Chloe kneel before her on the floor, her hands tugging at Beca's boxers. The brunette lifted her hips off the bed and Chloe slid her underwear down, freeing the other girl, looking at her hungrily.  
When Chloe's mouth touched her again, the freshman growled deep in her throat. This was everything, this was heaven on earth. Having the girl, loving her, touching her and seeing her go down on you.  
And it wasn't the last time that night, either. They devoured each other, they fed on each other, they came together again and again until Chloe finally collapsed on top of Beca. She nudged the other woman's neck with her nose.  
"You're amazing," she whispered.  
"You're amazing," Beca gave back, not really able to form a coherent sentence of her own.  
Chloe kissed her once again, then rolled off the brunette to let her breathe. Beca snuggled up to Chloe who lay on her back, still unable to resist touching the redhead.  
"We should get some sleep... two hours until I have to get up," Chloe chuckled and now it was Beca nudging her neck, kissing it. "Goodnight, sweety," she said, already slipping away into slumber.  
"Goodnight, love," came the whispered answer as the brunette closed her eyes and fell asleep softly cushioned on her lover's chest whose heart began to beat violently in answer. Suddenly she was wide awake, suddenly she felt that thing that she had kept pushing away all night. Love? Love was the answer?  
A tear trickled from Chloe's eye into her hair before she closed both of them, leaving the question for another day.

Chloe had been cold that morning. No, not cold, exactly. But not warm, not... like she usually was. She had smiled, yes, she had kissed Beca on the head and wished her a good morning. And then she had rushed both of them to get out of the apartment because she had a class at 8.  
And Beca felt empty yet full of questions. Had she done anything wrong? What had happened between post-coital bliss and this morning that had Chloe act like - a friend? Had Beca been fooling herself, was there no love? Were there only friends and benefits?  
Once more she climbed her perch on the tree in the park. Once again she lit up, thinking. What was it with that woman that had her so completely captivated but also on edge? She was lovely, yes. And she was hot, certainly that. She was good - that in combination with her shining blue eyes that made one instantly feel better about oneself. And then there were a million little things, her nose crinkling, her hands working themselves into yours, noises, smells, tastes, that seemed to be her or that Beca associated with her. There seemed to exist nothing in her little wold that wasn't already infiltrated by Chloe.  
Even smoking a spliff, like she did now, reminded the small brunette of her.  
Beca sighed.  
Last night had been bliss, this morning was hell. She didn't know what Chloe thought, she didn't know what she wanted. Did she want her at all? For something other than 'sometimes sexy-times'?  
"Only one way to find out, shorty. Ask her," Beca adviced herself in the chill morning air that was accompanied by a slight rain. She pulled her phone out of her pocket and began typing a message, deleted it, typed again, deleted it again.  
"You're useless," she told her phone. "Isn't there a Hallmark app that will just send the right kind of message for a situation like this?" She wondered aloud. She heard a dog bark close to her tree and looked around her, the little beast had noticed her and was now barking up her tree. "You know your regular cat-person, don't you, buddy?" She said under her breath and then went back to ignoring the dog until it was pulled away by its owner.  
What would be the perfect Hallmark card for this occasion, Beca wondered.   
'I know we said 'friends with benefits' but let's say 'deeply in love with you' now.'  
"Cheesy," Beca admonished her thoughts.  
'I wanna make your heart sing - let's be aca-awesome together.'  
"Urgh."  
'Last night was the best night of my life. Because of you,' which didn't bring on a reply, just a tear. Beca rubbed at her face. Sure it was honest but she couldn't sent that via text. She would have to... buy some flowers to go with it. She would have to say the words. And she knew she would never be able to quite convey what she was feeling. She was a nerd, a dork, a klutz - was there even someone who would want to love her?  
Yes, because Chloe had done just than last night. It hadn't been sex - not just sex - they had made love. Beca knew and she thought Chloe knew, too. And that was probably the problem. Because someone had fucked her up and now she thought Beca would do the same, was afraid that Beca will do the same.  
"Screw this, I won't let her get away with it. It's either all or nothing, babe," Beca blurted out and jumped off the tree, once again not looking down beforehand and landing right infront of a big German shepherd who started barking at her. Fortunately, the owner had a good grip on the dog and pulled it away before it could get at the small woman.  
"Sorry, m'am," the brunette apologized to the flustered woman and then walked away quickly. She had things to do.

"Hey, Becs, wait up!" a familiar voice called out to her on her way to her dorm.  
"Gee, Jess, what're you doing up so early and about?"  
"I wanted to ask you the same thing. Don't you usually sleep until noon?" He gave back and grinned at her.  
"Don't get fresh with me, young man. I might eliminate you from my dance-card," she told him and grinned back.  
"So, you're walking home in the morning... oh, my God, someone got laid," Jesse said in mock-surprise.  
"Someone did," Beca said earnestly. "But I'm not gonna share so wipe off that pervy smile of yours."  
"I don't have a pervy smile, it's a that's-so-great-for-you-smile," he told her.  
"Well, that remains to be seen," she said cryptically.  
"Why are you in such a hurry, anyway? You're usually the laziest walker around campus," he noted and she squinted her eyes at him. She didn't answer but instead pulled the door to Baker Hall open.  
"You coming with?" She asked him when he followed her inside.  
"Yeah, I'm meeting someone for a study-group," he informed her.  
"Hey, bitch!" the words rang out around the entrance hall and when Beca turned she knew immediately who had hurled them - and at her apparently. Marc stood at the foot of the stairs, glowering at her though two black eyes and over a bandaged nose.  
"Is he talking to you?" Jesse asked and stepped slightly infront of the small brunette.  
"It's okay, Jesse, as you can see I can take care of myself," she pointed at Marc's face.  
"You broke his nose?" Jesse asked incredulously and she nodded. Jesse stepped behind her then, smirking. "Protect me, oh, might one," he joked while Marc came over.  
"Yeah, she did this. Rammed her head right into my face as her roommate attacked me from behind," he said.  
"Kimmy Jin?" Jesse asked even more surprised than before and again Beca nodded. She turned toward the tall guy who was incidentally wearing his favorite gray sweater.  
"Listen, Marc, that was not my fault. You know that. What you did wasn't okay and I just defended myself," she told him.  
"Right! With the help of that vicious martial-arts chick you live with," Marc accused.  
"Martial-arts? She hit you with her handbag not some fucking nunchucks!" Beca gave back and Jesse had to chuckle.  
"Shut it, faggot!" Marc yelled at him. Beca didn't even think, she shoved the tall guy who was already standing too close for comfort with both hands. He didn't fall but he stumbled backwards and had to catch himself.  
"Don't say shit like that! Ever!" she shouted at him.  
"You're a fucking psycho, woman!"  
"Maybe I am! Maybe you should just stay away from me, dumbass!" She would have liked to go at him again but Jesse held her arm now. She turned toward him in anger but it dissipated when she saw his ashen face.  
"You okay?" she asked him. He simply looked back at her.   
"Fucking queers!" was what Marc said before he left Baker Hall but neither Beca nor Jesse paid any attention to him anymore. Beca took Jesse's hand and let him over to some couches that sat to their left.  
"Come on, sit down. I get you a soda," she told him and went to one of the vending machines on the other side of the room. She looked back at him in concern. It was obvious, he hadn't yet been faced by any kind of homophobia - at least not directed at himself. She knew the kind of shock that could be.  
She went back to him and pushed the coke into his hand before sitting down next to him.  
"How could he have known?" Jesse asked.  
"Maybe he didn't," she told him. "Maybe he just used his favorite insult and that was it. Maybe it's because you're with the Harmonics or because you're an aca, Jesse." He looked at her, seemingly wihout comprehension. "Faggot has become such a... common insult. Yes, it's mostly about being gay but sometimes it's just the worst thing someone can come up with and they'll fling it at you. You can't be sure that he knew."  
"Well, now he probably does. Damn!" Jesse put the soda on the table and buried his face in his hands. Beca rubbed his back consolingly. "I never... it's so... I've never felt so hated in my life. Why would anyone... I don't get it," he finally got out.  
"There's nothing to get, really. Marc thinks I'm stealing his girlfriend and, of course, that's my fault. Never mind that they weren't a couple to begin with or that Chloe has made this very clear to him. He just wants to hurt someone. You were just... in the way. He doesn't even know anything about you, Jesse."  
"That's even worse," he told her.  
"Yeah, maybe. I'm sorry you got caught in the middle of this. This is my problem and..."  
"If that guy is threatening you, if he attacks you, it's my problem, too. I'm your friend. And I'm pretty sure the Notes would think so, too. And Chloe," he told her. "You don't have to deal with this alone, you know?" Beca smiled at Jesse.  
"Thanks, friend," she said and kissed him on the cheek. He blushed slightly. "But I'm not sure what to do about this. We're both living here and, well, I guess it must be pretty humiliating for him that a lot of people now know that he owes his broken nose to a light-weight like me... but if he keeps coming at me like that I'll have to tell on him," she contemplated.  
"You should go there now," Jesse told her but she shook her head.  
"No, I... maybe Chloe can talk to him about it. Aubrey says, she knows how to handle him."  
"What if he attacks her, too?" the Harmonic asked.  
"Then I'll kill him," she answered without hesitating, meaning it. He looked at her.  
"Maybe she can talk to him at the party on Wednesday. There'll be loads of people there and..."  
"What party?"  
"The annual aca-fellow-fall-bash or something. At the BTM-house," he said.  
"BTM-house?"  
"Barden Treblemakers?"  
"Oh, okay," she said and looked thoughtful.  
"You didn't know?" She shook her head. "Now that you do, you're going with Chloe?"  
"I don't know. She hasn't said that she was going, maybe she's not," Beca said.  
"Well, if she's not, give me a call and we can go together, alright?" He smiled at her in a weak attempt to cheer them both up. But the past scene had them both shaken and there was no denying that. Beca nodded at her friend. "Okay, I... well, I'm a little late now for my study-group. I should get going. Will you be alright?"  
"Yeah, I'm good. I'll just go... take a nap. I've hardly had any sleep...," she stopped when she saw Jesse's smirk. "It was a long night," she smiled shyly.  
"I bet. Was it good?" he teased and she shook her head.  
"Not gonna tell you," she answered but her smile talked louder than words could.


	16. Chapter 16

She was exhausted yet sleep wouldn't come to her. She just lay on her bed, her headphones over her ears and stared at nothing. She had sent a text to Chloe when she came into her room:  
R U going 2 the party on Wednesday? R U going with me? I'd like 2 c u l8er - lunch?  
There hadn't been an answer yet but it was only just 10. Her first class should be finished by now. What would she be doing afterwards? Talking to friends, going to the library, hurrying over to another building for another class?  
Beca could very well imagine her doing any of these things but she couldn't imagine that she wasn't checking her phone at some point, not seeing her message or caring to answer it. What was going through the redhead's mind right now?  
She had enjoyed last night, Beca was sure of it. She had been sooo... uninhibited, free, passionate. Beca could still feel the heat radiating from her body, she could feel certain touches on her own and kisses that lingered on her skin. She shuddered just thinking of last night.  
And yet... it all came down to Chloe's behavior this morning, somthing akin to indifference - at least where their love-making was concerned. Beca had tried to be affectionate, had touched Chloe a few times. The redhead had smiled, politely... These little signs were there, they had bothered her and they were bothering her even more now. She had to see her, she had to make sure they were okay.  
Beca got out of bed, slipped into her boots and pulled her parka on. She wasn't sure where to go looking for the other woman but she couldn't just lay on her bed and do nothing. She would drive herself crazy.  
As she made her way over campus, there were some people who greeted her. Beca recognized them as acas or people associated to that small world. It was strange how she had become incorporated into it, how people recognized her from the riff-off. She ran into the Bellas' Cynthia Rose and they smiled at each other.  
"Cynthia Rose, right?" she asked and the African-American woman nodded.  
"And you're Beca, Chloe's girl."  
"Ah, yeah, I, erm... you don't happen to know where she's at? I think she left her phone at home, I can't seem to get a hold on her," Beca told the other woman although she knew full well that Chloe had her phone on her, had seen her slip it into her bag this morning.  
"I just saw her over at the library. She said she needed to work on an essay, so, she'll probably still be there," the pink-haired Bella answered.  
"Great, I would have just run over campus... probably not finding her. Thanks," she wanted to walk on to the library but she just remembered something. "Hey, you all gonna be at the party on Wednesday?"  
"Hm? Oh, yeah, 'course Aubrey has already warned all of us not to get into trouble with a Treble - not that she had to warn me." Cynthia Rose smirked.  
"Aubrey warns you off the Trebles? Is she the boss of you guys?" Beca made a comical face and the other woman laughed.  
"She seems to think so but she dismissed one of ours for having been treble-boned after hood night. Can you believe it?" Beca just rolled her eyes. "That's right. You'll be there, too?"  
"Yeah, I think so. Probably depends on whether the Notes are going," she answered.  
"Well, I hope they will. Say, you and the blonde... I've seen you fooling around with... you with her? I mean, I'm not judging because, I mean, Chloe has seen you, too, so, I guess it's okay for her but... you together?"  
"No, Nadine is... I don't even know where she lands on the sexuality-scale. I think she just likes to make out with people. If you're into that you can try your luck. If you're not, though, I think Lisa is into chicks," Beca said.  
Cynthia Rose smiled shyly and shrugged non-commitally. Beca nodded at her and they parted, the brunette hurrying over to the library.

Beca found Chloe where she had found her the last time, sitting haunched over her laptop in the second floor-study area. But she wasn't reading or writing anything. She held her phone in her hand, seemingly mesmerized by whatever it was showing her. Beca didn't approach her, instead she took her own phone out of her pocket to see if Chloe had answered her text. She hadn't.  
Beca didn't know whether she sould just go over. It had been a good idea earlier but now... Chloe seemed to sit like in her own world, staring at whatever was on her phone. What could it even be? It seemed to be a picture and maybe it was a picture. Maybe it was a picture of her family, of her dog, of her little brother (and Beca didn't even know if she had a little brother), of... Alice, even. Beca didn't know. She didn't know much about the redhead apart from her being in an a cappella group and being open and affectionate. How could she even love her when she didn't know the most essential things about her?   
But Beca did, even now as she was watching her, she felt such a deep, inexplicable pull toward her. She just wanted to be near her, she would even be happy to just stand here and watch her (which was probably a little creepy). She just wanted her in her life, though, she was positive that if Chloe wanted to just be friends now, it would surely kill her.  
"Beca?" 'Oh, God, no!' Her voice screamed in her head when she heard her father's voice behind her. Still, she turned and she even tried something like a smile for him. "You know you can go in there. The books don't bite," he said and smiled.  
"Very funny, dad. Like I've never read a book. Then again, you wouldn't know if I had," she said already tired of the voice she used whenever she was talking to him. But why would he always belittle her like that. He didn't know anything about her. Maybe apart from the fact that she didn't attend her classesl.  
"Beca," he said testily but she held up her hand.  
"Let's just say that I'm not here to study. I'm meeting someone but he's not here yet," she told him and went over to him and by him, positioning herself so that he wouldn't see Chloe or that she had been staring at her.  
"You friend Jesse?" he asked.  
"Yeah, Jesse. He's late as always," she informed him.  
"You guys are... good friends. I mean you don't just work together at the station, right?"  
"No, we're friends. He's also an aca, so, we meet at those little shindigs we sometimes have. He's got a great voice," Beca said and didn't even know why she was telling him this. Maybe she was diverting her own thoughts away from Chloe? Not that she could in reality, she was very aware that the redhead was only behind the next door, that she was close and that her whole being yearned to be closer.  
That was the moment her phone vibrated.  
"Sorry," she pulled it out of her pocket and read the text from Chloe:  
I'm busy at the library just now, probably will be for a couple hours yet. We'll be at the party on Wednesday but I think we'll go as a group. But I'll see you there - safe me a dance. XXX Chloe  
The Xes were good, the dancing-part, too, everything else was a disaster, Beca decided. She made a face.  
"Is everything alright?" Her dad asked.  
"Hm? Oh, yeah, Jesse is... he can't make it, so, I'll be on my way again." Beca shuffled her feet and took a peek around her father but Chloe was still sitting at her desk with her back toward them. She was still holding her phone but Beca caught her putting it down on the table, looking around herself and then picking up a book. She seemed restless, though. Maybe something had happened?  
Beca sighed. This was frustrating, and then there was still her dad who looked at her expectantly like she was supposed to tell him something. But what?  
"Have you thought about dinner? I mean you coming over for dinner?" He specified and she looked at him quizzically.  
"No, not really. I have some things on my plate right now, you know..."  
"Really, has it something to do with studying maybe?" He just couldn't let it go, could he?  
"Don't worry, dad? If I'll start studying one of these days, you'll be the fiirst to know. Excuse me now," she said flippantly but he held her arm.  
"Beca," and it started to become a grating noise in her head the way he said it. "I'm your father. You will not talk to me that way!" He gound out through his clenched teeth.  
"Let go of me," she told him and pulled her arm back. "You're my father but you've done nothing to deserve my respect yet, dad, so... I... really don't wanna talk about this. I can't and I won't. I have shit on my mind... I..." She noticed too late that she had raised her voice and that people were looking over. And then the door to the study area opened and Beca already knew who would stand in that door before she glanced around her father.  
"Beca?", the redhead asked because she couldn't quite see her behind the man in the suit. Both Mitchells looked at the young woman who tried a smile. "Hello," she said in that friendly way of hers.  
"Hello, I'm Dr. Mitchell, Beca's father," he introduced himself to the beautiful redhead.  
"It's nice to finally meet you, Dr. Mitchell. Beca has told me that you work here," she told him and stretched out her hand. "I'm Chloe Beale, I'm with the Barden Bellas, the a cappella group," infoming him effortlessly how she knew his daughter.  
"It's nice to meet you, too. I'm glad Beca joined in some activity on campus. She's a good singer," he said proudly. Beca behind him rolled her eyes.  
"That she is," Chloe confirmed. She looked around at her friend. "Were you looking for me?" she asked the small brunette.  
"No, I wanted to meet with Jesse but something came up with him, so, I thought I head back to my dorm," she told the other woman.  
"Sorry, I can't make lunch," Chloe told her a little off-handedly.  
"Yeah, I read your text. I... well, some other time," she said non-chalantly herself. They looked at each other, both a little irritated with the other but trying not to show it.  
"Well, I'm leaving," Beca then said, not even bothering with politeness. She didn't look at her dad, she just nodded at Chloe and then ran down the stairs of the library. She had to get away from this situation and she didn't care how awkward she left her father and Chloe. This was hell!  
She burst through the doors of the library startling some people who were just coming in. And then she ran, and she didn't stop until she was way off campus. She just needed to get away from this for awhile, she needed a place where she didn't need to think or talk or even be. She found a small movie theater - she noticed too late that it showed adult movies - and she bought a ticket and sank into a seat, staring at the screen for the next hour.  
'Well, at least, they have some girl-on-girl,' was the only thing she was thinking. Everything else she just blocked out, everything else was just too painful.


	17. Chapter 17

Beca sat on the garden wall infront of the apartment building where Chloe lived. It was late, already after 11 p.m. but she didn't feel like going home. She had been walking through town after leaving the theater until she had finally found a bar where they hadn't checked ID. Now she was a little drunk, and she was looking up at Chloe's window. There was still light on and she pulled her phone out of her pocket.  
I'm outside your window ready to belt into a serenade. Come down and talk to me for a minute?  
She sent the text and it only took seconds before she saw Chloe's head appear at the window. She waved lazily up at her but couldn't read the expression on her friend's face. Chloe's head disappeared but a few minutes later the woman walked through the door of the building, wearing sweats and sneakers and a warm jacket.  
She didn't say anything but sat down next to Beca.  
"What are you doing here?" She asked after a few minutes' silence.  
"I wanted to see you," Beca answered simply, looking over at the redhead. "And I wanted to apologize for just leaving you with my dad earlier. Did he say anything else to you?"  
"He said that you got your manners from your mom. I thought that was pretty obnoxious of him but then he was just like, nice to meet you and left," Chloe told her.  
"That's so like him," Beca groused. The older girl bumped shoulders with her, and then reached over and took her hand, it was warm, Beca's wasn't.  
"Have you been out here long?" the redhead asked. Beca just shrugged, unwilling to share that she had sat here for half an hour already before alerting Chloe to her presence. "If it's any consolation, I think your manners are much better than your dad's."  
"That's because I've got them from my mom," Beca joked and they grinned at each other. "I wanna kiss you," the brunette said after another longer silence. She looked at Chloe who simply looked back at her. When she leaned in, there was no resistance, the redhead didn't shy away from the contact. It was sweet and reassuring after the hell-like day Beca had had.  
They parted and Chloe smiled a very small smile, it almost seemed bitter-sweet.  
"So, have you finished your essay yet?" Beca asked and Chloe shook her head.  
"No," she said. "I... I was a little distracted today," the senior confessed.  
"By?"  
"Did you really plan on meeting Jesse at the library today? Or were you there to see me?" Chloe asked seemingly apropros of nothing.  
"I wanted to see you," Beca said honestly.  
"You're a little drunk, aren't you?"  
"Maybe. What does that have to do with me being at the library?"  
"I don't know. It's... we've talked about this, remember? I don't do relationships," the redhead reminded the freshman.  
"What if you fall in love?" Beca asked.  
"Who said I... did you see the picture?" Chloe asked, blushing a deep shade of red. She seemed flustered.  
"What pic... oh, the one on your phone?"  
"You saw it!" But Beca shook her head.  
"I only saw that you were looking at something on your phone and I thought it was a picture," she told Chloe. "Why? What's... is it a picture of me?" The thought hit her and she looked at Chloe wide-eyed who in turn blushed even more - if that was at all possible.  
"I... no, yes... why are you stalking me?"  
"I'm not stalking you, I wanted to see you," Beca argued. "When did you take that picture?"  
"I... this morning when you were still sleeping," Chloe looked pointedly into their dark surroundings and not at her friend. This time Beca bumped her with her shoulder.  
"You took a picture of me, sleeping? That's a little... creepy," she said but grinned.  
"Not creepier than you stalking me," Chloe gave back but there was a slight smile playing at the corners of her lips.  
"I wasn't stalking."  
"So, how long have you been sitting here exactly?" They looked at each other, not able to hide their smiles until they had to laugh.  
"You like me, Chloe. Just admit it." Beca put her face very close to Chloe's, looking at her freckles, then into her shining blue eyes.  
"Of course, I like you. But that doesn't mean that I'm falling for you," the redhead said.  
"Yes, but I'm irresistible and that's why you do."  
"You're irresistible?" Chloe asked, her eyes wandering from Beca's eyes to her mouth and back.  
"Yes," Beca answered, waiting for Chloe to lean in and kiss her, effectively proving her point. But the redhead did resist, they both did for several minutes. They could feel the other's breath on their faces, breath that was becoming slightly irregular with their yearning, their eyes alternately locking onto each other or staring at each other's lips. It was a battle of strengths - or maybe pig-headedness - until they finally both gave in. Their mouths came together furiously, latching onto each other, their tongues started battling, their hands buried inside hair, pulling each other closer by their clothes. For several minutes there was only the desperate need to be close until it became the desperate need to breathe and they broke apart, breathing heavily.  
"Let me come upstairs," Beca begged but Chloe shook her head.  
"No, we'll just be having sex all night," the redhead said.  
"And what's wrong with that?" Beca grinned.  
"I have hardly slept a wink last night and I have classes tomorrow, that's what's wrong. I can't go without sleep, Becs. Especially since I still have to write that essay," Chloe hopped from the garden wall and started walking back to the front door of the building. Beca followed her.  
"What if I promised to behave myself?" She asked smiling. Chloe laughed.  
"Like you could," the redhead gave back.  
"I'm not a sex-maniac. I could behave myself," the small brunette gave back.  
"But I couldn't," Chloe confessed and turned to Beca again, locking eyes with her and conveying just how much she wanted her with one look. Beca gave an involutary shudder. The freshman grabbed the rough material of Chloe's jacket and pulled her to her. They were standing infront of the door now, very close to each other once again.  
"So, you'll just leave me outside in the cold?" the brunette asked.  
"No, I'll send you home where it's also warm and cozy and where you have your own bed to sleep in," Chloe answered, kissing Beca on her nose. The freshman pouted and Chloe laughed before she kissed her on the mouth. As soon as their lips met once again, their earlier passion re-ignited and Beca pushed Chloe against the double-doors in the doorway. Chloe pulled the brunette closer still, hands disappeared under clothing and Beca's hand went from Chloe's hip towards her center. She touched her through her worn sweats and Chloe gasped. She put her own hand on top of Beca's pressing her harder against her but when Beca wanted to slip her hand into her pants, she stopped her.  
"No, we... there's a camera," Chloe pointed over their heads to a camera that was attached in the doorway. Beca looked at it.  
"Fucking pervs," she muttered. Then she waved at it.  
"Don't do that?"  
"Who in the world would put a camera there? I mean, making out in doorways is... like an American custom, right?"  
"Making out and maybe a little bit more?" Chloe teased.  
"Maybe..." Beca blushed slightly.  
"Kiss me goodnight?" the redhead asked and they kissed once again, Beca flipping her middle-finger at the camera. Chloe caught her doing it and grabbed her hand.  
"Don't do that! They could probably arrest you for it," she told the brunette.  
"Well, they're the pervs who install cameras in doorways. They should be the ones getting arrested," Beca remarked.  
"I'm going in now," Chloe said.  
"Take me with," Beca asked of her but again Chloe shook her head. "Will I see you tomorrow?"  
"No, but... I'm not brushing you off, I really have a lot to do before the party on Wednesday. I'll see you there, promise."  
"But I want you," Beca pouted. "And I know you want me," she added confidently. Chloe grinned. She pulled Beca close again, whispering into her ear:  
"I do, but tell you what? I'm going up now, getting ready for bed, lying down and then... I'm gonna touch myself, thinking of you," she breathed.  
Beca whimpered.  
"Would you wait till I'm home, so, I can call you and you could tell me about it," the brunette asked.  
"Isn't your roommate at home?"  
"Damn! Arghhh," Beca growled frustrated. "You'll be the death of me, woman," she told Chloe.  
"I hope I'll make you die a lot in the future," Chloe once again whispered. They shared another deep kiss before Chloe left Beca infront of her apartment building. The brunette waited until Chloe looked out the window, waving to her, before she made her way back to her dorm where she took a cold shower before slipping into bed. She tried to remember when she had last slept in her own bed - it felt like a really long time - and it took her awhile to finally fall asleep without Chloe's warm body pressed against hers.

They didn't see each other on Tuesday. Chloe buried herself in her books, trying very hard not to think about Beca or stare at the picture of her on her phone. Still, it was after midnight before she left the library with a printed version of her essay which she had to hand in that same morning. While they didn't see each other, they still texted, mostly because Beca had a lot of time on her hands. Since she didn't go to her classes, she composed suggestive texts every other hour and sent it to Clhoe who alternately blushed, giggled and then came up with suggestive answers of her own.  
Beca who was at work, also blushed, also giggled and had to let herself getting teased for it by Jesse. Her friend seemed to have recovered from Marc's words on Monday morning, he seemed relaxed and they talked a little about Luke, a lot more about Chloe. They acknowledged the fact that they had both fallen for people who weren't very open to relationships - Luke not even being out of the closet and Chloe keeping her friendships open but the door to a relationship very guarded. Beca did have a better feeling about the whole thing now, though. Chloe could have just shot her down last night, yet she had been playful. It could yet end well if Beca played her cards right. That's why she gave Chloe space today - but still made her think about her. She felt that this was the right strategy. And she was looking forward to the party the next day. She had gotten hold of Darnell earlier and he confirmed that the High Notes were going, so, everybody would be there, including Marc - as she heard from Unicycle when they met at the food-court during lunch. She had asked him why Marc was invited to all the aca-events and Uni told her that he had been a Treble the year before but had felt that he needed to concentrate more on his studies. Still, once a Treble, always a Treble.  
This was certainly interesting news, especially in the light that Aubrey didn't want any Bellas dating Trebles. The blonde had to really hate the guy if she thought Beca was better for her than him. Then again, maybe it was just because the Trebles' captain, Bumper, was such a big douche-b, and Trebles on the whole were a red flag for Aubrey. Whatever the reason, Beca was glad that she had the fierce blonde in her corner. She was also glad that the Bellas and the High Notes would stand behind her, and if Jesse's thoughts on the matter were any indication, so would the Harmonics. It was going to be an interesting evening of that much Beca was sure.  
Mostly everybody else was just looking forward to some fun, a lot of alcohol, and maybe even getting laid by someone as aca-awesome as themselves.


	18. Chapter 18

Beca didn't come to the party with the High Notes after all because Luke asked her to help him with his equipment since he was DJing that night. They drove over in his van and set everything up, sharing a beer when they were finally finished. The Trebles were all running around the house in various states of preparedness for the event, only Bumper seemed to be cool about it all as he sat back in 'his' leather chair, telling everybody else what to do.  
"Man, that guy is a piece of work," Beca said as she took a first sip of her beer.  
"He's an arse. Don't pay any attention to him. If you have a question about where anything is, ask Donald or Uni, they're the cool bros around here," Luke adviced her. He seemed a little nervous and Beca was pretty sure it wasn't about his job here this evening. He had changed toward her after she had walked in on him and Jesse kissing and she would have liked to make it clear that she wouldn't tell anyone but so far he had very effectively evaded her.  
"Will do," she answered to what he'd said. She was wondering when everybody else was going to be here, or more importantly, when Chloe was gonna show. If the Bellas' fashionable lateness at every other event so far was any indication they would be the last group to arrive.  
"Hey, Becky, listen..."  
"My name is Beca, Luke," she interrupted him and he looked at her questioningly.  
"Beca? I thought... why didn't you say anything?" he asked.  
"It's not really that important, just... try to get it right from now on," she shrugged. It had never bothered her but maybe it was a good time to not let things like these slide anymore. He nodded.  
"Beca, well, I just... what you saw the other day between Jesse and I... we were just..."  
"Hot and bothered," she interrupted his ramblings and now he looked at her wide-eyed.  
"I wouldn't put it quite like that. We were...," but he didn't seem to find words that were more fitting than hers. He frowned.  
"Don't worry about it, Luke. It's not a big deal. I won't tell anyone, if that's what's bothering you. You do know that I'm a lesbian, right?" She asked him head-on and he slowly nodded his head.  
"No, I didn't know... I mean, now that I'm thinking about it, I think I've seen you with some blonde," he frowned but didn't seem to recall more. Beca found her suspicion about him confirmed that he wasn't very observant when it came to other people's lives.  
"Well, you'll probably see me with a redhead tonight. At least, I hope so. About Jesse, though...," she diverted the conversation back from herself and toward her friend.  
"What about him?" Luke asked.  
"He's... he's a great guy but with little experience. Try not to hurt him too bad, okay?" She made a face. It wasn't really her business and she felt bad that she was meddling in Jesse's affairs but if her suspicion about Luke was correct, he didn't even know that he could hurt Jesse.  
"I'm not out to hurt him - or anyone for that matter. I... we're not like... that's between Jesse and me, you know?" She nodded.  
"I know but he's also... my friend. I'd just hate to see him hurt, is all. And we all still have to work together, so..." They looked at each other for awhile.   
"Well, work is my cue. I better see if everything works and start with some tracks before everyone's here. You gonna be okay on your own?" He asked. She smiled and nodded.  
"I'm good," she answered and held her cup up. Luke went to work and Beca started exploring the first floor of the BTM-House as long as there were no other people around.

An hour later the party had started but Beca was still waiting for her favorite redhead to appear. The Notes had all come together and were now lounging on sofas, armchairs and cushions all around the house. Beca had talked to each of them, laughed with them. And in this relaxed atmosphere with alcohol aplenty and people all around them it hit her that these were indeed her friends. She found talking to them easy, she reached out while she was talking to them to touch an arm or hug them. And they weren't the only ones, either. Jesse had arrived with some of the Harmonics and he had hugged her as if that was what they did - and maybe it was. Beca had grinned up at him and teased him for wearing a sweater over a polo-shirt which was kind of an unofficial Harmonics uniform. He had rolled his eyes at her and said she looked quite 'butch' herself - and maybe she had gone for that look on purpose. She was wearing black jeans and a black top that showed off her arms with their leather bands and the grasshopper tattoo, her hair was pulled back in a ponytail, effectively showing off the naturally strong line of her jaw. Yes, she liked this look and she hoped Chloe would like it as well.  
This was a new experience for Beca: having friends, being at a party and not feeling like the odd one out, people talking to her about music like it was the one thing that mattered in all the world and not just some spleen of hers. And she found that she liked it, now, if only her girl would arrive... Beca found herself drifting into the front room with the whirlpool, surprised at there being people in there, enjoying the warm, bubbly waters churning around them. She saluted Unicycle who was among those people with her drink and he waved at her to come join them. She laughed but shook her head and he actually pouted at her.  
"Not gonna happen, buddy," she said under her breath as she took another sip of her drink. That was the moment the front door burst open and revealed a blond Tasmanian devil bursting in.  
"Fat Amy's here! This party is now officially starting!" she yelled at the top of her voice before walking into the room like she owned the place. She noticed Beca just standing there as the other Bellas filed into the room after her and Amy looked over her shoulder. "Hey, Chloe, your lady love is already waiting impatiently," she snickered as both Chloe and Beca blushed and resumed her way into the confines of the BTM-house. Chloe smiled at Beca, her eyes shining like they usually did but maybe a little more so now that they rested on the freshman? Beca thought they did, she knew her own were and how could they not? Chloe looked positively stunning tonight in her tight blue jeans, brown knee-high leather boots and a tight red top.  
She came over to Beca, reaching out for both of her hands and pulling her close.  
"Hi," she said.  
"Hey, you. You look amazing," Beca complimented her.  
"And you look too cool for school. That top is positively sinful," she said as her eyes lingered on how tightly Beca's shirt hugged her upper body.  
"Glad you like it," Beca gave back and tilted her head so as to divert Chloe's gaze from her body to her eyes. Chloe blushed a little but they smiled at each other and then giggled.  
"I like it," Chloe confirmed before she leaned in and kissed Beca. There was an instant reaction coming from several people in the room - they cat-called, they whooped, they choked on their drinks.   
"This is the best party ever!" one of the Trebles called out. There was some splashing of water and when Beca and Chloe parted again they could watch three Trebles splashing at a fourth one.  
"I need a drink," Aubrey said as she walked by the two women who were still holding hands and smiling a little stupidly at each other.  
"Oh, yeah, me too," Chloe called out and followed Aubrey. Beca didn't know if she should follow but at that moment Chloe turned and made a come-with motion with two fingers. This was good, Beca decided, and did as she was asked.

They danced, and they drank and they made out and touched - not minding the excited reception of their behavior at all but rather ignoring it. Chloe was her exuberant self again, the girl Beca had met on her first day of college about 6 weeks ago. There wasn't any shying away from each other, or fear in those clear blue eyes, she was happy and so was Beca.   
She pondered this while she was standing at one wall watching people dance and drink and have fun, sipping her own drink. Chloe had left with a couple of Bellas who wanted to show her something or other and she had drifted to the wall - not really to distance herself but just to catch her breath and maybe relax her cheeks from the constant smiling she had been doing since Chloe had arrived.  
"Wild party, huh?" somebody next to her asked and Beca was a little surprised to see Aubrey smiling at her. The blonde was a real beauty when she wasn't frowning at things and she seemed quite relaxed and more than a little tipsy.  
"Yeah, it is. It's insane, actually. There are people in the whirl pool and I'm not sure if they're wearing any clothes," she said and had to laugh.  
"They're not," Aubrey confimed her suspicion and they giggled together which was certainly a little weird but also felt absolutely wonderful. Aubrey leaned over to the smaller woman and whispered into her ear:  
"Chloe is happy." And this simple sentence made Beca feel so proud a laugh burst out of her. She looked at the tall blonde and it felt like her face must split from her smiling so much. "You did good, Beca. Keep doing that and by the end of year I might not even dislike you anymore."  
"You don't dislike me, Aub, you just think that you should," Beca gave back.  
"I told you not to call me Aub, didn't I?" The blonde played annoyed but she was actually too drunk to care what people called her.  
Beca saw Darnell coming over to them, smiling easily.  
"Hey, Becs, you good?"  
"Don't I look good?"  
"You do, you do. You look like a chick from an apocalyptic movie who's just saved the world and got the redheaded damsel in distress to fall in love with her," he told her and smirked.  
"And it feels like that, too," she confirmed and they laughed. "Hey, you know Aubrey, right?" Darnell rolled his eyes at this.  
"Hey, Bree, it's good to see you," he leaned over to her and kissed her on the cheek.  
"Hey, D. You look good," the blonde gave back, treating the young man like an old friend which he probably was, Beca thought. It was so strange to see those unexpected friendships as if they were just forming before her eyes when they had been there before she entered this whole a cappella world.  
"It's so loud in here, I think I'm going to go for a walk. You wanna join me?" he asked both women.  
"It's so cold out," Beca complained. "But you guys should go." She looked at Bree who didn't seem annoyed by the suggestion at all.  
"You don't happen to have a smoke on you, do you?" Darnell asked the brunette with a sheepish grin.  
"Sure, here," she pulled a cigarette case from her pocket and opening it for Darnell, letting him decide how many he wanted to take. He took only one and smiled at her thankfully. He put the reefer behind his ear and turned toward Aubrey.  
"You wanna go?"  
"Yeah, but let's get a drink first. My cup is empty," she held it up and he nodded. They walked off and Beca watched them go. They actually made for a striking pair. That didn't, of course, mean that they would be but Aubrey seemed to like Darnell and she could have sworn there was some interest in the tall lanky High Note as he looked at Aubrey. Beca smiled to herself but it vanished for the first time this evening when someone said:  
"Where is she?" and she knew exactly who that person was even before she turned towards him. Marc was standing next to her, his brown eyes hard.  
"I thought we had an agreement. Me: psycho, you: stay away," Beca said annoyed.  
"I asked you where she is," he repeated.  
"Like I would tell you, scum," she gave back, feeling her anger rise at his insolence and the possibility that he was here to hurt Chloe.  
"Just because you got lucky when you broke my nose doesn't mean I can't still deck you, dyke. I just wanna know where Chloe... never mind," he said and started walking away. Beca looked after him, noticing that he was heading toward Chloe who was on her way over. Beca followed the tall young man as he approached the redhead who only now recognized him. She tried to smile but it wasn't very convincing.  
"Marc, hey," she said.  
"I wanna talk to you," he demanded. Beca was slipping beside him and slightly infront of Chloe.  
"Not gonna happen, Bozo," she told him.  
"Beca," Chloe said and lay her hand on the freshman's shoulder. "It's okay." Beca turned and looked at the redhead who smiled. "Come on, Marc, let's talk," she addressed the tall man and he smirked at Beca. The brunette grabbed his arm before he could walk by her.  
"If you touch as much as a hair on her head I'm gonna end you," she told him.  
"I'm so scared, little dyke," he murmured as he followed Chloe down a hall and into a room. He wanted to close the door but then left it open. Beca could only assume that Chloe had asked him to. She was walking to the point where the room ended and the hall began, not further but she was listening to sounds coming from the room into which they had gone. She didn't even notice that Jesse had come over and now stood beside her.  
"What's happening?" he asked and she looked up at him.  
"He wanted to talk," she told him.  
"Is he going to try something?"  
"I don't know but if he does, if you hear anything strange coming from that room, just run in and stop him," she told him, her eyes quite serious.  
"We do it together," he said.  
"I'm gonna make sure, he won't hurt her, you have to stop him," she told him earnestly. "Just tweak his nose, that should do the trick," she then said smirking and he nodded. They waited, looking at the open doorway. Then they heard him:  
"Dammit, Chloe, what the fuck... argh. You know what, I don't care! You're not even worth it, you little slut! If you wanna be with that little dyke, okay, great! She's just gonna use you like that other bitch did! That's how women are, they just use you and throw you away! Whatever, bitch!" He yelled and both Beca and Jesse walked closer to the door, just in case. But Marc already left the room and a moment later he shouldered by the two friends, staring angrily at Beca who just glared back. Chloe came out of the room. She looked sad.  
"Hey, you alright?" Beca asked. Chloe shrugged.  
"You heard what he said," she said and it wasn't a question. Still, Beca nodded. Jesse turned and walked back down the hall, this wasn't his place to be anymore.  
"He's an idiot," Beca said and lay her arms around Chloe's shoulders.  
"I thought we were friends," the redhead gave back. "I mean we were friends. What happened?"  
"He fell for you but couldn't have you," Beca answered. She carressed Chloe's cheek, looking deeply into her eyes.  
"Will it be that way between us, too?"  
"No, never," the brunette promised. "I may not be the sharpest knife in the drawer but I'm not gonna treat you like that. If you just wanna be friends... I'll... I..." but she couldn't say it. "I'll never treat you like that," she repeated instead and Chloe gave her a small smile.  
"Are you in love with me?" she asked in her usual open way. Beca nodded.  
"Yes, I'm in love with you," she said although she knew that this could be the end of it all. But how could she lie when she knew that her feelings were written all over her face. Chloe nodded at the confession and pulled Beca into her arms. She held her tightly for several minutes. When she broke the hug, but not the contact as she still held Beca's hands, she said:  
"Let's dance. And I need another jiggle juice - Marc's words almost sobered me," she made a funny face, rolling her eyes. She grinned at Beca and then kissed her. Beca laughed.  
"Alright, let's go back to the party," she agreed and that was what they did.


	19. Chapter 19

Chloe pulled Beca down the hall by their linked hands. They were upstairs and still at the party, Titanium was drifting from Luke's DJing-station downstairs to them.  
"That's my lady jam," Chloe said and winked sexily at the freshman.  
"You told me that, remember?" Beca gave back.  
"I did..." the redhead was walking backwards pulling Beca closer to her, they almost stumbled and Chloe giggled. "... when we were in the shower together," she added.   
"You make that sound sexier than it actually was, babe," Beca smirked and Chloe outright laughed.  
"I thought it was very sexy. The way you sang that song certainly gave me... feels," the redhead disagreed. She came to stand against a wall on a deserted corridor and pulled Beca flush against her.  
"And what kind of feels were those?" the freshman asked grinning.  
"Pretty much the same I have now," Chloe pressed her pelvis up and against Beca, the younger woman closed her eyes, biting her lower lip.  
"Tell me more about them," she asked the redhead who giggled. She pulled Beca's face to her and they kissed passionately, their tongues sliding against each other, their hands disappearing underneath clothes. When they finally came up for air, Beca looked into Chloe's darkened blue eyes.  
"Can we take this a little bit more private?" she asked. The redhead looked around herself.  
"It's already pretty private," she said since nobody was there with them. Of course, the noises from the party could still be very well heard, among other noises (hinting at private parties) from behind some of the doors around them.  
"I'm not one for public display of affection," Beca said.  
"Most of the people downstairs would probably disagree with that considering the way you've been kissing me all night," Chloe argued cheekily. They grinned at each other.  
"Well, that was harmless compared to what I wanna do to you now."  
"Hmmm, do tell," came the retort.  
"I'd rather show you," the brunette pressed into the older woman, letting her thigh slip between Chloe's. The redhead moaned and moved her hips enticingly against Beca's. The freshman's hips moved of their own accord, pressing back into Chloe, making them both moan in pleasure. Chloe finally pushed Beca away from her, only to once again pull her behind her as she went to one of the doors on this corridor. She knocked, waited, then opened the door.  
The room was dark, there were no noises coming from within. Chloe switched on the light, assuring herself that it was empty which it was. She went inside, Beca close behind her.  
"Half-naked women and basketball players - must be a guy's room," Beca commented as Chloe closed the door.  
"Come here," the redhead said and once again they ended up pressed against each other, this time against the door. "You don't have to look at the room, just look at me," she told the brunette.  
"That's easy," Beca smiled. Her hands slipped underneath Chloe's top, massaging the hot skin of her taut stomach.  
"That feels good."  
"Yeah? How's that?" Beca's hands slid further up on her torso, cupping Chloe's breasts and messaging them. Chloe moaned.  
"Even better," she said, closing her eyes in pleasure. Beca captured Chloe's lips then, adding to the stimuli. It wasn't long until Chloe's hips were once again pressing into Beca's. "I need you, sweety," she gound out between kisses.  
"Need me to do what?" Beca teased.  
"Touch me," came the desperate answer.  
"I thought that was what I was doing," which earned Beca a frustrated growl. The freshman laughed lightly. "Are you wet?" she asked, making the other woman shudder. Chloe nodded.  
"Very," she promised the brunette.  
Beca's hands slid down Chloe's upper body and slowly opened the button on her jeans. Another frustrated growl came from the redhead but she didn't make any move to hurry Beca along - it was a pleasurable torture to her. The brunette slid down the zipper of Chloe's jeans, looking up at her as the redhead whimpered.  
"Red undies?" she asked smirking. Chloe nodded.  
"It's my favorite color."  
"I think it's mine, too. At least when it comes to underwear," Beca said as she pushed Chloe's jeans down to her knees where they rested on the taller woman's boots. She carressed Chloe's thighs, relishing at the muscles underneath her warm skin, the way they contracted at her touch.  
"Please, touch me," Chloe begged.  
"I do one better," the brunette smiled and then kneeled down infront of her lover. Chloe gasped as Beca put he lips against the flimsy material of her undies, kissing her. Then her hands pulled them down as Beca blew at overheated skin. The redhead whimpered.  
"Please."  
Beca pushed Chloe's thighs apart as she kissed her again and again. Her tongue finally slipped between her folds, languidly licking at the moisture she found. Two fingers of her left hand joined in, finding her entry and pushing into the redhead.  
Chloe moaned, her hips moved against Beca's mouth in the rhythm the younger woman's fingers set.  
"Yes, please, Beca," she moaned. The brunette circled Chloe clit with her tongue before flicking over it in two quick strokes. Chloe's hips jerked and Beca felt the walls around her fingers tightening. Her own center throbbed with desire as she sucked at Chloe's clit, pushing her fingers deep inside her.  
"YESSS! ARGHnghmn, Beca, Beca, yes!" the redhead climaxed, waves of pleasure hitting her core, overwhelming her. Her thighs quivered, ready to give out after the powerful release as shivers still wrecked her body. Beca kissed Chloe's abdomen and stood up, her fingers still buried inside the taller woman. She kissed the redhead, letting her taste herself on her lips, inside her mouth.  
Beca finally pulled her fingers from their warm place to the moan of the other woman.  
"That was.... hmmmmhhh," Chloe hummed.  
"Oh, really," Beca chuckled and the redhead nodded. She looked deeply into Beca's eyes, her hand carressing her cheek with the strong jawline.  
"It's the best feeling in the world," she finally said.  
"Having someone go down on you?" Beca asked but Chloe shook her head.  
"Having you go down on me. It never felt like this before, never," she confessed and then kissed the younger woman deeply.

They stood like this for awhile, holding each other, kissing. Chloe's hands slipped under Beca's top about to reach her breasts when someone turned the doorknob, trying to get in. But Chloe had locked the door from inside.  
"Go find yourself another room, this one's occupied," Beca called through the door.  
"That's my room, dude," the voice from the other side came back. Beca growled in frustration.  
"Of course it is," she grumbled and Chloe giggled while she pulled her pants up and her top down. "We just go to my place. It'll take awhile, though. Will you be able to manage?" she teased the younger woman.  
"Barely," Beca gave back and leaned in for another kiss. There was a knock at the door.  
"Come on, guys, could you hurry it up a little?" came the disembodied voice through the door.  
"Someone's in a hurry," Chloe said and unlocked the door. When she opened it, they encountered Unicycle and Stacie whose clothes were already pretty rumbled.  
Stacie smiled at Chloe sheepishly.  
"Oops," she said.  
"Don't worry, I won't tell Aubrey if you don't," the redhead told the curvy brunette and smiled reassuringly.  
"That makes me almost sorry to have interrupted," the taller Bella gave back grinning.  
"No harm done," Beca said as she left the room after Chloe and Uni and Stacie slipped by them into the room.  
"Have fun," Chloe called out as the door closed.  
"I always have," Stacie's voice floated back to them and the two women chuckled as they made their way downstairs. The party seemed to stagger by now, many of the guests had already left, others were upstairs for a more private soiree, and then there were those who lay and sat around drunkenly. There was only one pair left dancing, the Bellas' Cynthia Rose and the High Notes' Lisa. Beca smiled at the two women and CR gave her a small smile back.  
"Do you see what happens there?" Bumper nudged Beca, he was very drunk.  
"Two women dancing together?" she answered shrugging.  
"No, Bellas hooking up with High Notes, that's what's happening. I don't get it," he said, looking from the two women dancing with each other to Beca and Chloe and back. "How did this happen. Bellas and Trebles are supposed to hook up, you know? I think it's your fault. You and the redhead, you guys changed everything. It's not good, I don't like it," he stated.  
"That's your prerogative, Bumper. By the way, have you seen Aubrey?"  
"That's what I'm talking about. She left half an hour ago - with Darnell. DARNELL! I don't get it. We've won the ICCAs three times in a row, we should be superstars. We should get all the aca-bitches, but no, the potheads get the finest girls...," Bumper shook his head.  
"Aubrey and Darnell left together?" Chloe asked and looked at Beca who shrugged her shoulders.  
"The last time I saw them they were heading outside for a ... stroll," she had wanted to say 'smoke' but she didn't know if Chloe knew that Aubrey smoked weed - on occasion.  
"Hm," the redhead made. "Let's go home. I think we have unfinished business to attend to," she whispered hotly into Beca's ear and the brunette nodded.  
"Oh, yes, we do," she agreed and they waved at an unhappy Bumper who mumbled:  
"This is a catastrophe."  
They made their way back to Chloe and Aubrey's place via bus. On their way from the station they started fooling around again, rekindling desire and stopping every few paces for more kissing and touching. When they finally made it to the apartment door, they were both more than ready to continue what they had begun at the BTM-house. Chloe opened the door but they hadn't even closed it behind them yet, when they heard a loud moan coming from somewhere inside.  
"What... Who..." There were more moans, words said which couldn't be understood where they stood.  
"Sounds like sex-noises," Beca stated.  
"Sex... no... I mean... there's two people, right? Do you hear two people?" Chloe asked and Beca nodded.  
Aubrey's high-pitched voice pierced through the silence:  
"Yes, yes," she called out.  
"Oh my god, oh my god," Chloe squeaked, grinning. "She's having sex in there!" the redhead was overjoyed. Her hands were balled into fists and she shook them in triumph. Beca bit on her fist to keep from laughing. "We can't stay," Chloe then said while the noises from Aubrey's bedroom continued.  
"What?"  
"We can't stay. Aubrey would be so embarrassed if she heard us," she pushed Beca out the door.  
"But... where are we gonna sleep?" Beca asked.  
"Your room," Chloe said and took Beca's hand.  
"Kimmy Jin is in my room," the freshman said.  
"Then we'll have to be very quiet slipping in," Chloe explained to the brunette.  
"No more sexy times tonight, huh?" Beca pouted.  
"No, but you know what?"  
"Hm?"  
"Cuddling is nice, too," the redhead informed her lover as they set out toward Baker Hall.


	20. Chapter 20

They both woke to the closing of Beca's dormroom door. It wasn't exactly slammed shut but Kimmy Jin sure could have been quieter doing it - she didn't bother, though. Beca smiled when she felt Chloe's arms around herself. It was a cozy restraint and yet a moment later they losened their hold and instead rubbed over the brunette's arms.  
"Morning," a sleepy voice murmured into her ear.  
"Morning." Beca turned onto her back and looked at the redhead, smiling. Chloe didn't stop touching, her hand merely wandered from Beca's arm to her face, her lips weren't far behind as she kissed the other woman's neck and cheek.  
"Someone's touchy-feely this morning," the brunette observed.  
"I'm always touchy-feely, in case you haven't noticed," Chloe gave back. She pushed her hand underneath Beca's shirt and up to her bare breasts, messaging the right one and pinching the nipple.  
"Okay, Chlo, maybe we could..." Beca grabbed the inquisitive hand and pulled it out from under her shirt. "Could we just... lie here a little, cuddling, maybe?"  
"You don't like morning sex?" Chloe pouted.  
"I do... I do... but... shouldn't we talk about something?" Beca was aware that she was pushing her luck with the redhead. The past couple of days they had pretty much played it cool where feelings were concerned. Beca had opened up to Chloe as far as she could but the older woman didn't seem ready. But they at least needed to talk about some of the things that had happened between them, Beca couldn't just go on as if nothing had happened.  
"What do you wanna talk about?"  
"Us," Beca said and Chloe pulled herself up on one elbow, looking down at the smaller woman. She opened her mouth to say something but then closed it again.  
"You start," she then said and tried a smile that wasn't very convincing.  
"I already told you that I'm in love with you, remember?"  
"And now you want me to say the same?" Chloe asked.  
"Not, if you don't feel it. I just wanna know where I stand here, Chloe. To be absolutely honest, I'm scared. I'm scared that if I say or do the wrong thing you just disappear on me," Beca confessed. She looked at the other woman intently and Chloe finally dropped her gaze. She looked down at Beca's collar where her fingers were working a lose thread.  
"I'm... happy with you, Becs, isn't that enough?"  
"Well, so far I didn't know that," the brunette said.  
"Can't you tell?"  
"I don't wanna guess your feelings, Chloe. That usually only leads to misunderstandings. But I'm glad that I make you happy," Beca smiled and Chloe saw it and smiled also. She lifted her eyes back to Beca's.  
"You do. You're amazing," she said and lay her head down on the younger woman's shoulder. "I... This isn't easy for me, you know."  
"Yeah, I gathered."  
"I've been hurt before. I know it seems that I'm very open and trusting but I don't really trust. I trust people with my body but that doesn't mean I can trust them with my heart," Chloe said softly. It was easier for her now that she wasn't looking into Beca's eyes and the brunette wasn't looking directly at her.  
"Can't or won't?"  
"I made a conscious decision a couple of years back that I would only date casually, that I would have sex if I wanted to but wouldn't fall in love. I needed to heal. And it worked," the redhead told Beca.  
"Were you never lonely?" the freshman asked.  
"We're all lonely sometimes, Becs, but I wasn't most of the time. When I wanted company I would call a friend or spend some time with Bree."  
"That's not what I'm talking about," the younger woman said.  
"What are you talking about?"  
"This, lying in bed, cuddling, talking. I talk about me holding you after you had your panic attack, us dancing, us as we're not able to keep our hands off each other... didn't you miss that? Didn't you yearn for it? I've never even had that before and I still wanted it," Beca specified.  
Chloe kept silent for a while and the smaller woman thought that maybe she had fallen asleep, then she heard a heartfelt sigh.  
"I love this, Beca. I... don't wanna lose it again. But that's what will happen, that's how it always happens," she said desperately as she buried her face in the fabric of Beca's t-shirt.  
Beca pulled Chloe closer, tight into her arms, drawing soft circles on her back, soothing her with sweet nothings.  
"It doesn't have to end, Chlo. We could make this work," she promised.  
"How?"  
"You would have to trust me first, honey. But if you do... if we could just have that... then we'll have it all," Beca felt herself falter. She didn't know what 'all' was but she knew that she wanted it with Chloe. But even to her this concept seemed a little too much, a little too... frightening. Was she promising Chloe forever? Could she do that when she was only 19 years old? Things always changed, things got mangled and twisted and people broke up - some got divorced, like her parents.  
"I'm not ready for it all, Becs. I'm barely capable of right now," Chloe said.  
"Alright, then we have that instead. I'm not so naive, Chloe. I know that people break up and hurt each other. But if we don't take the risk, if we don't allow ourselves to feel... we have nothing. We don't have heartache but we don't have love either."  
"I was just tired of the heartache, sweety. There was too much of it," the readhead said. "And I'm not sure if love is worth it."  
Beca didn't know what to say to this. If Chloe didn't feel it, if she could truly doubt that love was worth it, she couldn't tell her. Her words would be empty to Chloe. She had to make her feel it, not hear it. She wasn't sure yet how but she would make Chloe feel - all of it. Because she knew that Chloe was capable of love, that she wanted it, needed it and that there were already feelings there. Feelings she was afraid of. They wouldn't be lying here if that wasn't the case, they wouldn't be talking about it. Chloe could have ended it when Beca told her that she was in love. But she didn't. They were here now and Beca felt so much, she could hardly contain the happiness. But with it, yes, there was heartache because Chloe didn't feel it the way she did. It made her sad but probably not even as sad as the redhead was.  
Beca simply held Chloe for the time being. They didn't talk anymore, they dozed and after awhile, Chloe started touching Beca again, stroking her skin, kissing her. They came together in desperate need, they clung to each other as they climaxed, and they didn't part until they couldn't shut out the world any longer. Aubrey was calling Chloe, Kimmy Jin was coming back from her classes. They kissed and left their feelings for another day.

On Saturday, Beca and her fellow High Notes were lounging on the commmons. They were still talking about the party at the BTM-house on Wednesday, Darnell having a broad grin on his face. He and Aubrey were now officially dating and both seemed very happy about it. Beca, of course, couldn't help teasing the tall man:  
"So, you and Aubrey," she said as she sat down on the bench next to him.  
"Yep," he confirmed.  
"Was it good?" she asked grinning.  
"I'm not talking about that, perv," he gave back but his smile never faltered.  
"Never mind, the way Aubrey screamed that night... my ears are still ringing," Beca laughed at the dumbfounded expression on her friend's face.  
"You were there?"  
"Well, we came in at some point and heard you guys, so, Chloe said we'd have to leave... we slept at my place which means that you cock-blocked me, friend. I'm not taking that lightly, you know;" she told him with a frown.  
"I'm almost sorry," he grinned.  
"Yeah, yeah, tell that to someone who'd believe it," the brunette smiled again. "Anyway, I'm curious, have you guys been smoking that night?"  
Darnell looked at her from the side.  
"Don't worry, I do know that Aubrey smokes... we've shared a reefer once," she told him almost non-chalantly.  
"Really? I didn't know you two were so tight. From what I hear from Bree, you're not especially her favorite person in the world," Darnell commented.  
"She's just in denial about how much she secretely likes me," Beca gave back grinning. Darnell laughed.  
"Okay, well, yeah, we've been smoking. And drinking a little, too... it's not like I had to get her stoned to... you know...," he defended himself.  
"No, that was not what I was getting at. I don't think you would have gotten into her pants if she hadn't wanted you to... I was talking about her... anxiety," Beca looked at her friend meaningfully. He frowned but then his face cleared.  
"You know about that?"  
"Chloe told me," she said.  
"Of course. You guys talk about everything, are you?" D gave back, indicating that he had some insight into her relationship with Chloe as well. They looked at each other for a long moment in which they both declined the offer of taking a smoke from Nadine.  
"We talk about some things. I'm not saying it's all... solved," Beca decided to be honest with Darnell.  
"Well, Bree told me about her... anxiety. And the reefer seemed to losen her up, yes, but I would say the whole experience was... satisfying to her and that she won't always need it. At least, I hope so and so does she," he was just as honest.  
"I'm glad for her, and I know Chloe is very happy for Bree... and for you, but more for her," Beca laughed lightly and Darnell joined in.  
"And what about your lady love? Is she your lady love?" Beca sighed.  
"Well, she knows how I feel and she hasn't run away from it yet, so... I guess, there's hope."  
"Speaking of the devil," Darnell nodded with his head in the direction of a lone figure walking across campus, she wasn't aware of the group yet and it didn't look like she was heading their way, either. By the look of it, Chloe was heading for the library. Beca watched her, mesmerized for a moment, then she looked around at her friends.  
"Hey, you guys. Could you do me a favor? The Elephant Love Medley from Moulin Rouge, you all know that?" she asked, excited about an idea she just head. Darnell rolled his eyes at her and Louis said, slowly, very deliberately as if to a very slow person:  
"We. Are. Aca-people, Becs. We know musicals and such." She grinned and hopped off the bench.  
"Come on, we're gonna do it now, for Chloe... with Chloe, whatever... I start..." A moment later she was jogging over the lawn to catch up with her lover. The High Notes looked at each other for a second but then followed the petite brunette.  
"Chloe," Beca called out and the redhead looked around. She smiled when she saw Beca come towards her, but was a little mystified why her friends were following her. The brunette stopped by her side, caught her breath and then belted:  
"All you need is love!"  
"What? Beca... I... what are you doing?" the redhead looked quizzically but also a little fearful. She knew the song, of course, and she was almost certain what Beca wanted her to do. She just wasn't sure she was ready for this.  
"Just bear with me, just this once. It'll make you feel good. Sing it with me. Now," Beca pleaded, taking Chloe's hand. She started again:  
"All you need is love!"  
Chloe: "A girl has got to eat!"  
Beca: "All you need is love!"  
C: "She'll end up on the street!"  
B: "All you need is loooove!"  
C: "Love is just a game."  
The High Notes were starting with background beats when Beca continued with:  
"I was made for loving you baby, you were made for loving me."  
C: "The only way you're loving me baby, is to pay a lovely fee."  
B: "Just one night, give me just one night."  
C: "There's not way, 'cause you can't pay."  
B: "In the name of love! One night in the name of love!"  
C: "You crazy fool, I won't give in to you."  
Chloe made like she was walking away but Beca caught her hand easily, dancing around her and coming to stand before the redhead:  
"Don't leave me this way. I can't survive without your sweet love, oh baby, don't leave me this way."  
She saw Chloe's eyes fill with tears at this but the redhead didn't break eye-contact nor did she stop singing:  
"You'd think that people would have had enough of silly lovesongs."  
B: "I look around me and I see it isn't so, oh no."  
C: "Some people wanna fill the world with silly love songs."  
B: "Well, what's wrong with that? I'd like to know.'Cause here I go... again..." Beca pulled Chloe over to a bench and she jumped on it:  
"Love lifts us up where we belong! Where eagles fly, on a mountain high!" She pulled Chloe up beside her and the other woman laughed out.  
"Love makes us act like we are fools, throw our lives away, for one happy day," she sang. Neither of them even noticed their small audience that had gathered not far from them, they had even forgotten about the High Notes providing the background music. They just sang to each other, looking into each other's eyes:  
B: "We could be heroes, just for one day."  
C: "You, you will be mean."  
B: "No, I won't."  
C: "And I. I'll drink all the time."  
B: "We should be lovers!"  
C: "We can't do that."  
B: "We should be lovers, and that's a fact."  
C: "Though nothing would keep us together..."  
B: "We could steal time..."  
And Chloe joined in, for the first time they sang together. Again, as in the shower, their voices melted perfectly, overlaying each other in Chloe's clear soprano and Beca's deep alto voice:  
"Just for one day. We could be heroes, forever and ever. We could be heroes, forever and ever. We could be heroes..."  
B: "Just because I-I-I will always love you."  
C: "I-I..."  
Beca and Chloe: "... can't help loving..."  
B: "You."  
C: "How wonderful life is..."  
Together: "Now you're in the world." And then they kissed.


	21. Epilogue

Beca held Chloe's hand, the redhead encouraging her with a nod of her head. The brunette turned toward the door and rang the bell. The door was opened only seconds later by her father who smiled at her. Then he noticed Chloe and his smile faultered just a litte.  
"Hey, I thought... well, never mind, come in," he pulled the door open and the girls went inside, their hands untangling as Beca hugged her father a little awkwardly.  
"Hey, dad," she said.  
"Professor Mitchell," Chloe greeted.  
"You don't know each other, this is Chloe Beale, she's a Barden Bella, this is my dad, obviously," Beca introduced the two and Ken Mitchell shook the redhead's hand.  
"The Barden Bellas, wow, now that's a great a cappella group. I saw you at the Regionals last year," he complimented her.  
"Thank you, sir, although I must say, we're even better now. We're about to change our routine and... well, Beca here has mixed the music for it," she carressed Beca's arm lovingly.  
"I'm just glad Aubrey has losened up enough to let it happen," the brunette gave back.  
"Beca is mixing your music?" her father asked frowning.  
"Yeah, you see, we had quite a few changes this year. The whole group has changed and we thought our music should reflect that. Beca told us that she's making these mixes and she's come up with something that reflects on all the Bellas individually now. There's some hip-hop, some country, some pop, it's a really great number. I hope we can rehearse a couple of routines that'll win us the Nationals this year," Chloe smiled brightly at Beca's father then at the brunette herself who blushed slightly.  
"Well, that sounds all very good. Well, I'm surprised that Beca has helped you made such a big change but I'm glad."  
"Why would you be surprised? You do know that Beca is mixing music, right?" Chloe asked.  
"Yes, I know that... but many young people do that these days. I didn't know... how good she was," he admitted.  
"She's very good," Choe told him. They all heard someone coming their way into the hall and then Sheila stood in the doorframe, smiling.  
"Oh, hello. I thought... Ken, you said Beca was bringing a young man," she said.  
"That's what I thought but she brought her friend Chloe. Chloe, my wife Sheila," he introduced and the redhead stepped forward shaking Sheila's hand.  
"Hey, Sheila," Beca waved.  
"Hello, Beca. You're not going to stand here all night, are you? Why haven't you asked the girls to come into the living room, Ken?"  
"I was about to," he answered and smiled some more at her daugher. Beca tried to answer his smile but she was sensitive to the notion that there was something off with his smile. And why had he thought she would bring 'a young man'? She had told him weeks ago that she didn't have a boyfriend. Had he actually thought she and Jesse were in item? That was ridiculous, Jesse was still very much involved with Luke.  
"Travis isn't here tonight but he said to say 'hi,'" Sheila told her step-daughter.  
"Well, say 'hi' back," Beca told her and the blonde smiled.  
"Sit down, girls, would you like something to drink?" Ken asked them.  
"A beer would be good," Beca smirked, expecting and receiving a shocked expression from her dad and his wife.  
"She's joking, we'll both have a coke," Chloe poked Beca on the arm as they were sitting down, very close together. Chloe was linking her hand with her girlfriend's as she usually did. It didn't go unnoticed by Ken who was about to turn away from them to get the drinks. He looked over at his wife who had also noticed the affectionate way the two women behaved toward each other. She looked back at Ken and he tried a small reassuring smile before he went into the kitchen.  
"So, are you two studying together?"  
"I'm a Barden Bella. It's one of the a cappella groups at the university. Beca is with the High Notes," Chloe explained.  
"Oh, yes, Ken mentioned it. You're singing together then?"  
"Well, not exactly," a slight mischivious smile tugged at the corner of Beca's lips and Chloe knew exactly what Beca was thinking of. "We're more like rivals, singing against each other," she teased.  
"Well, we would if you guys were to get your heads... together. It's not like you're serious competition," Chloe teased back.  
"Ow, that hurt," Beca said and they laughed together. Her father came back with their drinks.  
"So, what're you talking about?" he asked.  
"Singing," Beca told him.  
"Ah, yes. I think dinner's about ready, maybe we can continue our conversation in the dining room?" He pointed at the room next to the one they were sitting in now where the dinner table was set. The girls got up and took their drinks with them. Ken and Sheila followed, looking at each other.  
Beca and Chloe sat across from each other, as did Ken and Sheila at the ends of the table that was a little too big for only four people. Beca could only guess that they never ate here when they were just the family which told her she was rather considered a guest than a member of the family. It made her uncomfortable and she wanted to roll her eyes at it but she had promised Choe she would try being civil - and so she did try.  
"How are your studies going?" Ken asked of his daugher as Sheila went into the kitchen to get dinner.  
"It's going," 'nowhere' Beca added in her mind. She smiled non-commitally.  
"Beca, I'm serious. You studies are too important to let them slide. I know you like music but that's not how you're gonna make money in the real world. Music can be a hobby but it won't feed you," he lectured her and this time she actually did roll her eyes. She looked over at Chloe with a 'I told you so'-expression on her face. Chloe smiled.  
"I think Beca could make a living with her music. She's very good. Some of her mixes are better than what I heard at any club lately," she told the man to her right.  
"I appreciate you defending her lazy ways, Chloe. That's what's expected of a good friend but.."  
"Dad," Beca interrupted him. He turned toward her. Sheila was just coming back with two dishes of something that smelled delicious. Beca waited until she had set them down before she said:  
"Chloe isn't just my friend, she's my girlfriend," she enunciated firmly and without blinking.  
A gasp from Sheila drew the attention of everyone to her. She had put a hand over her mouth and looked at Beca as if in shock. The brunette looked back at her as uncompromising as she had looked at her father.  
"Excuse me," she said and rushed back into the kitchen.  
"Excuse me," Ken stood and followed his wife.  
Beca looked over to her girlfriend who smiled sadly.  
"Did you know?" she asked but Beca shook her head. They heard muffled voices from the kitchen.  
"Maybe we should just go," the brunette suggested and they were about to get up when Ken came back into the dining room with another dish.  
"Sorry about that," he said and tried a smile that wasn't very convincing. He sat back down in his chair and pointed at the food. "Go ahead, we don't want it all to get cold. Chloe, here, take the potatoes," he handed a pan to her and she smiled thankfully.  
"Is everything alright, dad?" Beca asked him. Sheila came from the kitchen with the gravy and put it on the table. She didn't look at the girls but simply sat down.  
"Maybe we should say grace," she said and even Ken seemed taken back by the suggestion. Sheila looked at him expectantly and he reached his hands out to both of the women. They all had to stretch their arms to reach each other on the table. Beca looked at Chloe and the redhead could tell that her girlfriend had just about enough of this. She was doing this for Chloe, more than for her dad.  
"Dear Lord, bless our humble servings today. We've gathered in your presence with Ken's daughter and her... friend. Please guide us in our lives and make your presence known to these two young women that they shall find their way back..." Beca pulled her hand from Sheila's.  
"We're not lost, we're just gay," she told the woman who flushed spectacularly at her words.  
"Beca," her father said sharply.  
"What? I didn't do anything wrong," she told him.  
"Yes, you did," Sheila said. "You said yourself that you're... gay. That isn't what God wants, Beca. It's against the bible and it... it feels wrong. Ken said there was a young man you were seeing, Jesse. We thought you would bring him. Why didn't you bring him?" The woman sounded desperate now. There seemed to be a wide chasm between who Beca was and who Sheila wanted to see in her for Ken's sake.  
"Well, his boyfriend would have objected to us coming here together and I don't think Chloe would have been happy about it either," Beca dead-panned. She looked at Chloe. "We should go," she said and they both stood up from the table.  
"Beca, wait," her father said and she looked at him expectantly, as expectantly as his wife also did. "Can we talk about this?" he asked of her.  
"Talk about what, dad? The fact that I love Chloe or that you obviously have a problem with it?"  
"I don't... it's not that simple," he told her.  
"Yes, it is. You always say that things are complicated when they're not. I understand that you and mom didn't love each other anymore but why did you stop loving me? You said that your move down here has kept you from seeing me but you rarely came visiting when you were still living close. You either are my dad or you're not. And I think you don't wanna be that. I think you just want me to tell you that it's okay not to want to be that. But it's not! You're just not that great a guy, Ken Mitchell," she told him and walked around the table where she joined Chloe. They walked into the hall where they had hung up their jackets earlier and pulled them on again. They just exited the house when Ken walked into the hall.  
"Beca, I..."  
"No, forget it," she told him and the two women walked out and down the two front steps of the house. Ken followed them as far as the door.  
"It's just... not right, two women..." he said, his tone sounded almost apologetically, like it was the only thing that had ever kept him from loving his daugher. Beca felt Chloe's fingers slip out of hers and she turned toward the redhead who had turned toward the house again. Chloe took a few steps back toward Beca's father.  
"It's not right?" she asked him. "Do you wanna know what's not right? My boyfriend beating me up after prom night because I wouldn't sleep with him. He would have done worse if the people next door hadn't called the police when they heard me scream," she told the man who blanched at her words.  
Beca gasped.  
"Chloe?" she asked, stepping next to her girlfriend.  
"It's where I got the scar from," the redhead told her girlfriend pointing at the scar on her forehead. She took Beca's hand again. The brunette squeezed silently.  
"That was wrong," Chloe turned back to Ken Mitchell. "You're holding out on your daughter who never wanted anything but a small sign of your approval. She came to study here because you finally remembered that you had a daughter but you've been criticizing her ever since. She's not like you want her to be, she's more like her mother, isn't she? Well, maybe that's because you didn't help raise her at all. That was also wrong. My ex threatening Beca because I fell in love with her, so, that she had to head-butt him in the nose? Also wrong. You see, Beca is the one person in my life who's never made any demands on me. She didn't think she owned me just because we had sex, she didn't think she could tell me what to do just because she happened to like me. She just did. She gave me all her love without me asking for it. That's the kind of person she is. And you want to tell me, this is wrong?" Chloe lifted their combined hands and shook her head. "Nothing has ever been as right as two people loving each other. I love your daughter and she loves me. You're the one missing out on her love, so don't tell me I can't love her just because you've been too much of a coward to."  
"I think that's enough, baby," Beca's soft voice whispered into her ear. Chloe turned to her and gave her a small smile.  
"I love you so much," she said, turning toward the freshman.  
"I know. And I love you," Beca gave back and they kissed. It was just a little kiss but it made Sheila, who had finally joined her husband at the door, gasp once again.  
Beca could feel a mischivious grin forming on Chloe's lips and she felt the same kind of mischiviousness rising in herself. They locked lips, deepening the kiss, pulling each other toward themselves and were finally engaged in a very public, very graphic makeout-session. They heard the door slam after a while and started giggling.  
Beca sobered pretty quickly, looking sadly up at the redhead.  
"I'm so sorry," Chloe vowed but Beca shook her head.  
"Not your fault," she said. Chloe pulled her into a tight hug. When they finally parted, they walked down the walkway through the Mitchell's frontlawn hand in hand.

The end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Songs: You're Gonna Miss Me (When I'm Gone) by Lulu and the Lampshades (or sometimes even Anna Kendrick), Fighter by Christina Aguilera, Titanium by David Guetta, Mickey by Toni Basil, Hit Me With Your Best Shot by Pat Benetar, It Must Have Been Love by Roxette, S&M by Rihanna, Let's Talk About Sex by Salt 'n' Pepa, No Diggity by Blackstreet, Just the Way You Are by Bruno Mars, New York, New York by Frank Sinatra, Elephant Love Medley by Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor (containing Love is Like Oxygen by Sweet, Love is a Many-Splendored Thing by The Four Aces, Up Where We Belong by Jennifer Warned and Joe Cocker, All You Need Is Love by The Beatles, Lover's Game by Chris Isaac, I Was Made For Lovin' You by Kiss, One More Night by Phil Collins, Pride (In the Name of Love) by U2, Don't Leave Me This Way by Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes, Silly Love Songs by Paul McCartney and Wings, Heroes by David Bowie, I Will Always Love You by Dolly Parton, Your Song by Elton John; I chose not to include the beginning, so my story doesn't include the lyrics from Love is a Many-Splendored Thing)
> 
> No copyright infringement intended.


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